


The Pawn and the Grimoire

by GarGoyl



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Demons, Exorcisms, Guns, Intrigue, M/M, Magic, True Forms, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-16
Updated: 2014-11-16
Packaged: 2018-02-25 14:35:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 67,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2625362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GarGoyl/pseuds/GarGoyl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU - Sebastian is a demon in search of revenge, while Ciel is a young Vatican affiliated investigator targeted by the dark forces. Apparently there can be nothing but conflict between them as they begin working together, but maybe, just maybe, they'll end up as one hell of a pair ;)Rated for language, violence, yaoi, etc. Disclaimer: I don't own Black Butler</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

A/N: _**Grimoire**_ _= a textbook of magic. Such books typically include instructions on how to create magical objects like talismans and amulets, how to perform magical spells, charms and divination and also how to summon or invoke supernatural entities such as angels, spirits, and demons. (Wikipedia)_

* * *

It had been a night just like that when I had been supposed to lose my life. I had not feared death, nor had I hesitated in its dreadful proximity, and I had felt no regrets for leaving a world that could offer nothing but misery and pain at least and utter boredom at most. Yes, I had made plenty of mistakes in my time. I had been a reckless child to begin with, and the same recklessness had stuck with me in my – admittedly few - adult years. So deeply wrong I had been in my ways that I had even ended up selling my very soul to the devil. And then, when the time had eventually come, the devil had come to collect.

You know, demons like to claim that all men are fools, mere puppets they can subdue with great ease. But is that really true? Alas for them, there are plenty of fools amongst their ranks as well. And so I had been proven that night, when instead of losing my life –and my soul - I'd ended up losing my humanity. On a whim of twisted fate, I had become one with the predator before me, my human self and that unholy, evil being strangely, abominably moulded into one.

Maybe it hadn't been such a big loss after all, but one can easily say that I had bitten, without my will, way more than I could chew. For what is it to be human? Surely there is a complex, comprehensive definition behind this simple, apparently straightforward word – _human_ – but I have never bothered to look into the depths of it. For me, being human simply meant not to have this feral urge, this burning, insatiable desire to tear, rip apart and feed on the essence of that which is called 'man'. But I had been blessed – well, if someone like me could ever be worthy of any blessing – with enough self control to be able to lead a relatively safe existence in the shadows.

* * *

That night, when things were about to take a complete and unexpected turn – for better or worse, that was still to be decided - I was on my way to work. Jumping from building to building, letting the night air chill me and the wind play in my hair was a far more pleasant way to get there than taking the crowded subway, as long as it did not draw any unwanted attention. After all, I'd always enjoyed a nice 'walk'.

The night was still young and the club's entrance was already crowded – it was going to be a busy shift, I could tell. Oh, I know what you would say – a bodyguard at some shady nightclub, was that the best I had been able to achieve in my new circumstances? Really now… I told myself the same thing at first, but mind you, taking the spotlight in any way would have been a bad idea. For if creatures such as myself might have been at the 'top of the food chain', so to speak, our position on top of the power chain was and would always be the subject of dispute of a bloody, gruesome war. A war I had no wish to be part of, not until that night, at least. And so, my shitty job provided the low profile I had preferred to keep and plenty of 'food'. Of course, that was something I had to be extremely careful about, but what can I say? I had fully learned my lesson on recklessness before.

* * *

"Mr. Michaelis?"

I turned around to look at the man who had so formally addressed me. Not fitting in the picture at all, was he, I determined at a first glance. A black trench coat over a smart office suit, silk tie, golden rimmed spectacles adorning a severe but still handsome face framed by well-kept black hair, expensive cologne. Nope, definitely not fitting in the picture.

"Yes?"

"My name is Claude Faustus," he introduced himself in the same polite, neutral voice, "I was wondering if I could have a word with you…"

 _Have a word? Isn't that a bit cliché? Is he with the police or something? "_ Certainly. This way please," I invited him to advance further than the doorway, motioning towards a seat at the end of the bar. Well, he wasn't waving any badge in my face, at least not yet. He went and sat down, waiting for me to join him.

"Can I offer you a drink, Mr. Michaelis?" he asked, motioning for the bartender.

"No, thank you… I don't drink during working hours," _Indeed… and not the kind of drink you'd offer…_ "So, what can I do for you, Mr. Faustus?"

He took a quick sip of his own mineral water and glanced directly at me. "Well, I suppose I might just as well get to the point," he said, "I have to say, Mr. Michaelis, that we've been watching you for a while now and so, you unusual abilities did not go unnoticed…"

"I don't know what you mean…" _Is this man a hunter? And what exactly did he notice?_ It wasn't the moment to panic, not yet. I quickly assessed his figure and decided I could have easily taken him on if he got any sudden ideas. His movements seemed rather slow, like those of all people stuck in an office all day. He could have tried to pull out a gun from underneath his sharp clothes, but not fast enough. I decided he wasn't that much of a threat.

"For one, you're not the regular bulky type for this kind of job," Faustus explained," yet you don't seem to have a problem handling 'crisis situations'. No matter how ugly things get… and they do rather often around here, don't they, Mr. Michaelis…?"

That was something I could explain. I had a perfectly reasonable explanation for almost everything: combat skills – assiduous training, the red hue of my eyes – a rare genetic anomaly, and as for my feeding habits – well, that was something I was less able to explain reasonably, but I could always have served him a 'live' and rather painful explanation, had he chosen to ask… "True," I agreed with a light smile, "admittedly, I am trained for the job," I added briefly patting the gun safely tucked in my belt. "But it's hardly anything unusual, I am simply one hell of a bodyguard."

"Indeed… and we are in dire need of staff like you. Based on our previous assessment of your skills, I am here to offer you a job," he replied, digging inside his coat and producing a card. "It is far more dangerous than this one, but also significantly better remunerated… "

 _Offer me a job, he says…_ _Judging by his appearance it's not that unlikely, he might work for a rich businessman of sorts, one who's gotten himself into more shit than he can deal with…_ "Is that so? What is it about, then?"

"I don't know how this will sound to you," Faustus replied, taking off his spectacles and beginning to wipe them carefully, "But the organization I work for is directly affiliated to the Vatican." He paused to assess the effect of his words, but I gave him nothing. "To put it simply, we exorcise and hunt demons of all kinds and breeds, and there's plenty out there to say the least."

 _So… he's a fucking hunter after all, I should have smelled that much… Not a very good one though, if he hasn't figured_ me _out…_

"I see… so, I take it you are a priest, Mr. Faustus? Because to tell you the truth, I'm hardly a religious man and I'm sure I don't look it either. Not the one who'd sign up for some crusade such as yours, I'm afraid"

"No, indeed," the priest agreed with a surprisingly confident smile, "but you look like the kind of man who is up for a good challenge, for a good fight, Mr. Michaelis. So if you're interested, come look for me any time. We work around the clock"

* * *

I fumbled with the card in my hand for a while after the man took his leave, feeling the soft, expensive paper impregnated with his faint but rather interesting scent between my fingers. The whole thing was crazy enough, to say the least. I didn't necessarily doubt the truth of his story, but there was clearly a suspicious side to it. Vatican affiliation? Probably true. All that stuff about demons? True as hell, that one. But them out recruiting random people like me instead of other priests, that was somewhat quite peculiar. That and the excessive funding, which was rather obvious. But still... _'I will now claim you life and your soul in the name of my master!'_ That memory, forever etched into me, by the very words of the creature I'd become one with. Who was this master, I wondered? Could I have found him? Could I at least have obtained an explanation about what had happened to me? Probably not, but what I could have had was my revenge.

 _NUIT_. I had no idea what it could have meant, other than the French for 'night'. I read the card again, admitting that it had picked my curiosity – especially that particular _scent_. Claude Faustus… _Father_ Faustus, really? How unusual, he didn't seem _the type_ at all… Well, at least I could see what this was about…

* * *

_A church, how fitting…_

I glanced at the tall, ornate gothic doors before me with a sense of unease. Of course, I didn't expect to burst into flames or something once I stepped past the threshold, but still, there was a part of me wondering whether by any chance something foul was waiting for me behind those closed doors. It was past midnight and the church was empty, but well, he had said ' _anytime_ '. I was just debating whether to just wait patiently for someone to show up, when I noticed a shadow slipping behind the remote pillars in the back. So, there was someone after all.

"Hello?"

The figure eventually moved into the light, revealing himself – rather dissapointingly it was just a choir boy. "Yes? Can I help you, sir?"

"Excuse me, yes. My name is Sebastian Michaelis, I'm looking for Father Faustus," I explained. "He said I could come anytime…" Maybe it was just my imagination, but I thought I saw the choir boy's pink lips twisting into a peculiar smirk as he took his time observing me.

" _Father_ Faustus? " The hidden irony in his voice did not escape me, and neither did the coldness evident in his pale blue eyes. "Certainly, come this way, Mr. Michaelis…"

He led me to one side of the church, where the confessionals were, and pulled a thick velvet curtain aside. The boy pulled out a complicated set of keys and unlocked the metallic door behind it, revealing a narrow spiralled staircase going somewhere below. "You will want to watch your step now, Mr. Michaelis, these stairs are treacherous," he said, descending ahead of me. There was barely any light, so I went in carefully. Yes, _his_ scent was there, however faint, mingled with the mould of the worn stone steps and blackened walls, and the persistent smell of oils burning in the few torches along the way.

"Here, you'd better hold on to me," the blonde boy suddenly offered, brusquely interrupting my inspection as his small, fragile hand slipped into my larger one. I hardly needed to be guided like this, as if I were a child, but I humoured him nevertheless, finding his thoughtfulness rather amusing. Oh, wasn't he lucky to be here and not outside in some dark alley or even back at the nightclub. Would he have held my hand like this, with that confident and almost flirtatious smile I could guess even in the dark, had he known what a delicious feast I would have made out of him...?

"This way."

 _Oh, well, what do you know!_ At the end of an equally narrow and ancient looking stone corridor there was an entirely different story – a modern time, fully equipped base of operations, buzzing with staff. Well, not staff _like me_ apparently, if I were to consider Faustus' words. The choir boy continued to drag me by the hand as I stared at the multitude of computers, various screens and panels contained in glass offices, and – oh my!- an absolutely huge, extremely comprehensive gun rack. _Now, that is quite an enjoyable sight!_

 _Father_ Claude Faustus, although I had rather gotten to doubt that piece of information, was obviously waiting for me – judging by his lack of surprise – and received me in his large, sharp looking office. "Mr. Michaelis, welcome!" he greeted in a pleasant tone. He was dressed just as elegantly as on the night of our first encounter and I suddenly felt terribly underdressed for the occasion in my all-black, very casual outfit, and the matching black converses must have been the worst part of it.

"Alois, leave us... _"_ the priest waved his hand in dismissal, and the boy withdrew with a barely refrained frown. _Huh, each with his own I suppose – don't ask, don't tell..._ I thought, not that I cared, anyway.

"Mr. Michaelis, I'm glad you have finally decided to accept my invitation. As you can see, I was expecting you," he cut to the point without further formalities. I certainly preferred it that way, although... how presumptuous of this man to assume I'd show up for sure.

"I had to see it for myself and indeed, this place looks pretty impressive at a first glance. But it seems like you have plenty of personnel too, so how about you give me some more details as to why you would need me here?"

"You are quite observant, Mr. Michaelis, we do have plenty of _support_ staff. The situation of our _active_ personnel is however less fortunate, and we certainly don't have anyone like _you_." He spoke the last words pressing his fingers together as if to better emphasize the meaning of it, and then I realized it. "See, I am aware of your _true nature_ , Mr. Michaelis. But this is not a problem for us, not at all. You're not the troublemaking kind, and it's obvious that your human side has remained dominant, despite the unfortunate _merger_ you have been subjected to. So it's simple – under these circumstances we'd rather hire you..."

I snorted, examining my black nails thoughtfully. Damn, bullshit nail polish had gotten chipped already... "You'd rather hire me than kill me, that's what you mean, I suppose? And I have to ask... isn't it rather unethical for the Church to hire a demon, _Father_ Faustus?"

"Not considering what it was that drove you here... you are not happy with yourself, _Sebastian_ , and you want someone to pay for what has happened to you, I know that!" Faustus said gently, as if talking to a child. "We can help you get what you want and maybe even... redeem yourself." Well shit, when had this become such an intimate conversation about _me_ and why wasn't I lying on some soft couch or something? Pfftttt...

I had always been amazed by the sheer, almost foolish confidence some people so boldly displayed. Honestly, did he not know that I could have escaped his headquarters with only sustaining some minor injuries at most? He did not appear to have taken any precautions about my coming there, and the people I'd seen earlier were, as he'd put it, _support staff_. And so was he, pretty much. Whoever were the worthy fighters amongst their ranks, the ones who must have been using that badass gun rack, they clearly weren't around.

"Fine then," I agreed without much enthusiasm," As long as there's a chance I might get what I want, I might just as well take it. Looks like you've got yourself a deal, Father Faustus, but as for the whole... redemption thing, I'd save my breath if I were you"


	2. Chapter 2

"This will be your office! I know, it's quite small and rather crowded, but until we can find a better place for you, Mr. Michaelis... Anyway, make yourself at home!"

I plopped down onto the rotating office chair and gave myself a quick spin, half hoping that the incessant ranting of the blonde – who had introduced herself as 'Elizabeth, but you can call me Lizzy, everyone calls me Lizzy' – would eventually stop. _Father_ Faustus was apparently extremely busy, so for my first day on the new job he'd let me into the capable hands of one of his support staff to show me around. It would have been a lie to say that I was oh-so enthusiastic about it, I'd simply decided to take things as they came. I hadn't even bothered with a proper office outfit, but for the _active_ work that would have most likely been assigned to me – like chasing low breeds into the sewers or something – wearing an Armani suit wasn't exactly crucial.

"Right... and now a bit about the job," she said, sitting down on the opposite side of the table, "We have only four _operational_ teams for the moment, and so you'll be part of the fifth. Each operational team consists of a fighter and an investigator, who work together all the time, they are practically inseparable. The fighter's main duty is of course to protect the investigator... Now, I understood you'll be a fighter, right Mr. Michaelis?"

"Yes. But please, call me Sebastian." _Because 'Mr. Michaelis' makes me feel like I am a thousand years old, and even if that is partially true, I'd rather not be constantly reminded of it..._ I smiled sheepishly and that only deepened the girl's blush. _What an easy prey..._

"Of course, Sebastian... Oh! There they are!" Lizzy suddenly exclaimed, craning her neck to peek over my shoulder, and I turned around to see what exactly the source of her excitement was. "They are our 'golden team' – Finnian and Mey-Rin," she went on explaining, as the said pair entered a separate office nearby. "They've only been here for about three years now, but I've heard that Father Faustus has trained them personally since they were very young, so there's no wonder they're that good! Of course, Finny is the fighter, but Mey is one hell of a shooter too!"

 _Golden team, eh? How interesting..._ although Lizzy really needed to get past the high school who's who mindset and all. I pretended to pay attention to her while discreetly observing them through the glass panels, and noticed that they were watching me too. The girl, a bespectacled redhead, had a shy and rather skittish air –but hey, we all have hidden qualities – and the boy...well to put it bluntly the boy was a half-breed at most. That much was obvious (at least to me, even if everyone else around here was probably unaware of it). From the vivid, unnatural green colour of his eyes, to the way he moved, crystal clear. No wonder he was that 'good'...

"So they're the best team, I see..."

"Well, not like the best best, but they're definitely the most popular! The best team is of course Father Faustus'. He and Alois don't have a match yet, but that's natural, I suppose," the blonde explained, "Finny and Mey are not that experienced yet..."

 _Now...Who would have thought that_ Father _Faustus and his cute little choir boy are an operational team? Now that's even more interesting_... I already had a few questions about my new workplace, but I would not even dream of asking her anything, she was too much of a loud mouth anyway and showing myself to be too nosy could have proven a bad idea, since I knew that my employer was probably keeping an eye on me, if not more eyes...

"Okay, so..." I clapped my hands, as if all ready for work and finally averting my gaze from the unusual pair, "do I get a fancy computer like that or something?" I asked pointing to the expensive looking laptop that lay abandoned in one corner of the table, before I noticed the small crack in the lid.

Lizzy's face fell slightly at my request, and she sighed blatantly. "Well, for now there's only the one over there, but your investigator trashed it last week... He was very upset, you see..." There was an obvious wave of sadness about her that she did nothing to hide, and so I cleared my throat loudly, eager to be rid of that atmosphere that tended to become uncomfortable.

"My investigator?"

Her head snapped up at my words and she rummaged through her large bag, pulling out a rather comprehensive file. "Oh, here. Father Faustus asked me to put this together for you, Ciel's file. Ciel Phantomhive, that is. He will be your investigator"

I leafed curiously through the file, starting from the back to the front (weird, I know, but this habit had always given me a feeling, however false, that I could finish things faster this way), and reading random passages. It seemed that a great deal of all those pages were about the investigator's family history and their activities within the NUIT organisation, but not so much on the man himself. And no wonder actually, as I discovered when I eventually arrived at the first page – his resume - since he was...

"Wait! It says here he's... eighteen?" _Oh no... You've got to be kidding me._ I hated the whole concept of prodigy kids with all my black little heart, they all turned out to be damn nasty brats like you've never seen. Damn! _Father_ Faustus had done it to me...

"Well, almost nineteen..." Lizzy corrected, the pink shade dusting her cheeks even more visible now. "But he's barely a year younger than me, so...Anyway, I know what you're thinking, Sebastian, but he's really mature, you know... " _Yeah, mature like he's smoking something you haven't tried yet or what? Pffft..._

"I suppose he's like that because of what's happened to his family two years ago..." she went on, oblivious of my slight scowl," His parents never wanted him to be a part of this, but after they were killed he decided to join us and-"

"Yes?"

"His parents had been working with NUIT for almost twenty years, they were a magnificent team...but then one night, about two years ago, their base was attacked by some breeds and they were killed, together with the rest of the operational staff housed in there. Only their son survived, but he too was pretty badly injured..." Lizzy whispered, fidgeting. "It's been quite hard for him, going through all that, you know?"

"Yeah well, I suppose..." I hurried to say, pushing the file aside and instead busying myself with the laptop. Maybe it wasn't a lost cause after all... and maybe if it still worked it could spare me of all that drama I had no desire to hear about. I pressed the start button and to my relief the screen came to life.

* * *

"Good morning. I suppose you must be Michaelis?"

I lifted my gaze up in the direction of the voice which had uttered my name with the kind of aristocratic disdain I had thought extinct until I had the pleasure of meeting my _investigator_. And there he was – a skinny, fragile boy who wouldn't have looked 'almost eighteen' under any circumstances, dressed (or rather, wrapped) in a black hoodie that was hanging loosely over some equally baggy jeans. One large, strikingly blue orb was fixed upon me coldly from under dark bangs, while his other eye was covered by a black eyepatch. But hell, he would have been kind of cute if it wasn't for the 'total pain in the ass' vibe he so blatantly gave off.

"Indeed... so you must be _the_ investigator?"

"I am Ciel Phantomhive. And yes, I am an investigator." He sat down across from me, on the chair rapidly vacated by Lizzy the very second she'd spotted him coming, and crossed his fingers onto the file that still lay on the table. "Father Faustus said you'll be my new fighter, so I took the liberty of reading your file prior to this meeting," he informed me bluntly.

"Yeah? I take it you're not impressed..." I replied casually, leaning back in my own seat, intent on observing the boy's expression.

"No. Where _exactly_ were you educated?" Oh my, Mr. Ciel Phantomhive was serious.

 _Mostly in hell, but no need for you to know yet, pipsqueak...honestly?_ "What happened to your last fighter?" I served it back to him promptly, and registered with some satisfaction that his eye narrowed oh-so-slightly. By the way, did I mention how much I like getting onto people's nerves? Especially when I feel they've got 'potential'.

"He's dead," he stated dryly.

"I thought so," I pointed with the shadow of a grin, turning my attention back to the laptop and proceeding to check the internet connection. _Damn, password protected!_ But maybe I could catch a free wireless, let's see now...

"HOW DARE YOU?! You were just a bodyguard at some shit nightclub!" the honourable Mr. Phantomhive suddenly spat in my face with all the disdain he could muster, and it was a lot. "You know nothing about this job! Have you ever seen someone attacked by a breed before? Do you even have any idea what breeds are?"

I turned to look the little bastard straight in the eye. Maybe this brat was used to intimidating others fainter of heart with his mini tantrums, but I wasn't one of them and it was best to make that much clear from the beginning.

"Yes"

"Yes _what_?" he insisted, leaning back in turn and crossing his arms stiffly.

"Yes I know what _breeds_ are, and yes I've seen someone attacked by them ( _eh, namely attacked by me, but I'll leave that one insignificant detail out..._ ). And by the way, they're only called 'breeds' by those who don't have enough balls to call them by their real name – _demons_. Things are veeeery simple, really, and I believe that complicating the terms is not going to make them any less ugly." I replied briefly raising my eyebrows.

The one large, dark blue eye blinked a few times, most likely perplexed by my audacity at confronting its owner. But the boy remained quiet, despite his visibly clenching jaw and pressing lips, while I refocused my attention on the laptop, eventually getting a valid connection. A heavy, tension filled silence fell between us, while Ciel continued to fix me with something like an awed scowl and I waited for something to happen – I didn't really know what – while I checked my personal e-mail, indifferent to his openly hostile demeanour. Honestly, this kid didn't know shit about shit.

"Ciel! These are the details for your next mission!" Lizzy's high pitched voice suddenly broke the evil spell as she poked her head into the office and shyly handed a thick envelope to the investigator. The boy snatched it from her hand without as much as a glance, let alone a 'thank you', and finally averted his gaze from me as he pulled out the papers and began leafing through them with a preoccupied air.

"Well, since you're so fucking _savvy_ on the subject, I suppose you already know what this is," he said eventually, holding up a picture for me to see, while tossing the rest aside. I glanced at it curiously, and I was met with the sight of what seemed to be the interior of some old, decommissioned plant. Moss and mould was cluttered into the crevices of the old brick walls which had once been a bright red, now faded to a darker, dreary shade. The remainders of metallic structure, pipes and pieces of old equipment were eaten by rust and pools of red coloured rain water dotted the worn tiled floor.

"Let me guess, that old tank there is not empty. I bet that _something_ absolutely charming lives inside, and we're supposed to deal with it, right? But on a happier note, at least it's not the sewers," I concluded in good humour.

Ciel rolled his eye. "It's a chemical plant, moron. But yeah, you guessed the point, it's a coven. And we're going to clean it up." He stood abruptly from his chair and motioned with his head. " Come on, it's time to get you geared up for the job..."

* * *

 _Oh, my... This is good..._ I appreciated, taking my sweet time to admire the gun rack up close at last. _Always outnumbered, never outgunned, I like that, yeah!_

"Michaelis, this is Bardroy, in charge with our armoury," Ciel informed me, motioning towards the solid blonde who simply nodded briefly in my direction and continued to chew on his unlit cigarette. "Hey Bard, we're going out on a 'date' today, so we'll be needing some new 'toys'!"

The armourer gave me a once over without a word and then turned away in his rotating chair, staring at the panels in front of him with a thoughtful air, while my investigator drummed his fingers impatiently onto the counter separating us from the goods corner. At last he stood up and picked up two full-auto Beretta 92FSs which he laid down in front of me, and a smaller Walther P99 for Ciel.

"There you go, ladies," he said with a large grin. "Take good care of them, because that's all you're getting this week. Especially you, Mr. Phantomhive..."

" _What the fuck_ , Bard?! No shotguns, are you serious?!"

Bardroy laughed and shook his head like a benevolent parent. "You can't fire a shotgun, kiddo. You're so tiny that the recoil alone would probably knock you off your feet. Trust me, that's something you can use, and anyway, better stick to your regular shit"

The investigator gnashed his teeth, reluctant to admit the other guy was probably right. "Yeah, maybe... But he can!" he pointed at me with a brief glare. "Why can't he have a shotgun at least? I know you have some badass pieces somewhere, I've seen them!"

"Yeah, the Mossberg 500 Cruiser – that's Mey's favourite piece, and I gave the Franchi SPAS-12 to Finny. The two Remingtons 870 are reserved for Father Faustus and Alois. But hey, at least they take care of their shit, while you always wreck everything, so don't give me that sour face, little one," Bard shrugged.

"Bullshit!" Ciel spat. "You know what? Whatever... If you want to send me into the monsters' den with a fucking _water pistol_ , fine with me! Come on, Michaelis, we're leaving!"

He shoved his new gun into the small messenger bag which he'd previously picked from Lizzy's desk and which was already stuffed with the mission papers, and stomped angrily towards the exit.

"Why are you so pissed about?" I asked casually as we went up the stairs that led up into the church above.

"I don't know whatever gives you that impression, Michaelis," Ciel grumbled, trudging forward with a huff. "What occult reason could I possibly have now, eh?"

"Pfft... I feared you'd say that, actually. And it's _Sebastian_ , if it's not too much trouble..."

He reached the top of the stairs and blindly fumbled with the set of keys in an attempt to open the metallic door. "Honestly, is this your biggest problem right now? You know what? I really don't think you're fit for this job at all, Sebastian," the boy stated bluntly while unsuccessfully struggling with the lock, "you're much too relaxed!"

I leaned forward, almost pressing my torso against his back and gently took the keys from his hand. "Please, allow me..." I had been perceptive enough to notice the one key Alois had used to let me in and so I had no trouble whatsoever finding it and inserting it in the lock, as my eyes could see just fine in the semi-obscurity.

"I'm not as much relaxed as I am convinced that in this sort of combat firepower is not as important as one's ability to keep their shit together when things get rough, if you know what I mean. And I'm sure you do, you seem to be a smart boy..."

Ciel flinched almost imperceptibly at my words, but I could hear that hitch in his breath for the briefest moment and I knew I'd hit a weak spot. He pulled away from me and all but darted through the door he'd pushed forcibly, as in an attempt to escape something he could not bear. He said nothing in reply and I followed him equally silent as he sped up through the stalls on his way to the exit.


	3. Chapter 3

"Let me guess now, you _don't_ have a car…" my investigator observed dryly, after briefly scanning the empty street up and down with a disdainful snort, however I thought it pointless to mention that apparently neither did he.

At least, I didn't need a car. If anything, being a demon helped cut off one's costs quite significantly. I had almost no need for human food (other than the occasional craving for junk food hopelessly embedded into my human side) and the one I did require was free for the taking, no need for a car as I could cut across town in a few leaps if I really wanted to, and I kept heating costs to a minimum. And so, my life had been beautiful until then. With an emphasis on the past tense, as it would soon turn out.

"Hey, Sebastian! Wait up!" a voice called for me from inside the church and I turned to see Alois rushing towards me through the stalls. The blonde brushed some rebellious strands away from his face as he reached us and graced me with a broad, warm smile that was everything but innocent. "Father Faustus said you could have the Range Rover for today…" he drawled, boldly taking hold of my right hand and slipping a set of keys in it, "it's parked just around the corner."

"Thank you! Please tell Father Faustus that I'm most grateful!" I replied, bouncing the keys in my hand playfully.

"Will do, and… good luck!" With a final sensual flutter of lashes the choir boy turned around on his heels and made himself scarce inside the church, without as much as a glace towards my investigator, whom I could almost sense fuming behind me. This was going to be fun…

"If you're done flirting with that exceptional tart, maybe we can go now?" Ciel suggested, irritation seeping from his low, hissed tone, as he turned his back on me and started off in the indicated direction of our assigned vehicle.

"But I don't understand! What did _I_ do?" I feigned some pure, unsuspecting innocence, raising my eyebrows." Saying a simple 'thank you' was the normal and _polite_ thing to do!" I was careful to stress the second adjective just for the purpose of emphasizing that it wasn't exactly his area of expertise…

"Please! You are 'most grateful'?" the petite investigator spat heartily. "What kind of fucking gay shit talk was that, huh?" he demanded, struggling to keep up with my long strides. "He really turns you on, doesn't he!"

 _Oh my, don't we have a vile little mouth…_ "Not as much as he turns you on, apparently…" I served him back amused, "But you can take a deep breath and relax Mr. Phantomhive, I'm really not into blondes, natural or otherwise, so just chill, yeah?"

I unlocked the car and eagerly sunk myself into the driver's seat, deeply inhaling the pleasant new car smell, and once more reminded that my enhanced senses could be a real blessing. I was only brought back from my musings when a piece of paper with the address was unceremoniously tossed into my lap, while my investigator plopped down onto the passenger seat all gloom and doom and proceeded to sulk without a word, hugging his messenger bag.

"Please put your seatbelt on," I advised gently, inserting the keys into the ignition. Ah, one simply had to love the deep purr of that powerful engine – just like a big cat. Speaking of which, I could bet all my money that _someone_ was probably allergic to them… I pondered that had to be just my luck, now that I was going to share lodgings with my 'partner', that I could not bring in any pets. I'd actually had a cat back at my old apartment, but luckily we'd been in an 'open relationship', meaning she would come and go when she pleased and visit other homes as well.

"Yes, _dad_!" Ciel grumbled while completely avoiding my gaze, eye trained on the road ahead of us. But, insensitive as I was to his current predicament, I deemed it to be a good moment to at least try to get some answers to my questions – not that I entertained much hope that this troubled, sad little boy with anger management issues could have held the key to some unspeakable knowledge…

"Okay, you can tell me the truth now, Ciel. This isn't about me at all, you're just upset that Alois is part of the best team, isn't it? Lizzy told me that he and Father Faustus are the absolute stars when it comes to sending breeds back to where they came from or something… I have to confess that I was quite surprised to hear it, since Father Faustus has a rather meek, non-violent appearance and his assistant is no badass either, if you ask me"

Ciel snorted, hugging his bag tighter while his face twisted into a deeper scowl. "They're all like his children – Mey, Finny… and now Alois. Don't get me wrong, Father Faustus is a really good person, but he has this little habit of picking up various trash from the gutter and nourish them until they're all so fucking high and mighty… I don't know what he does to them and what they really do out there that makes everyone look up to them and swoon over them like they're something else, but all I know is that these damn useless brats haven't ever gotten so much as a scratch until now and I don't… know what the fuck this is!" he blurted out in one breath that betrayed some long harbored pain. "And Lizzy is seriously retarded; I wouldn't waste my time listening to her if I were you…"

I glanced down, assessing his petite, slumped frame. No wonder he was so hostile towards them – they hadn't gotten so much as a scratch while he'd lost his parents, probably one eye and had suffered hell knew what other damage currently concealed by his clothing. I supposed that any youngster would have ended up as an utter emotional wreck in these conditions. And because of that, one thing was obvious as far as I was concerned- he was going to be one huge liability.

* * *

The old chemical plant – or the ruins thereof – stood tall against the grey, clouded skies with an ominous air. Since it was located in the outskirts there were mostly barren fields and shrubbery surrounding the place. But the thing itself wasn't that impressive at a first glance, at least until one walked past the rusty, creaking gates onto which a 'no trespassing' sign hung abandoned. Only then I realised that it was in fact quite enormous. The picture must have been taken somewhere inside the building complex that lay ahead of us, as it had been previously investigated by another team. I didn't quite get the reason why they would send only two people to such a place (other than the obvious staff shortage), but honestly, if that shithole really was as breed-infested as they suspected, it surely looked like a bite way larger than the two of us – and maybe even the whole of NUIT – could actually chew.

Ciel began rummaging through his bag as we trotted down the weed invaded path leading to what appeared to be some sort of office headquarters that stood before the other buildings, and pulled out several papers with a rather confused air. "Fuck, I knew it! This place is huge and they could be anywhere!" he pointed, frowning at the picture clutched in his hand. "How the hell am I supposed to know where the hell this reservoir is or whatever the hell this is?! We don't even have a fucking map!"

 _Well, they could be anywhere, or - even better – they could be_ everywhere _… Wouldn't that be a treat?_ "Maybe we can find some sort of map in there…" I suggested, motioning towards the administrative building. "But… is this legal? I mean, us snooping around like that and all?"

The petite investigator rolled his one eye blatantly. "Well if the breeds moved in I don't suppose there's any legal issue, don't you think? And if there ever was an issue, they must have 'taken care' of it already"

I must confess that I'd never been fond of raiding other people's property or just unfamiliar places, it always made me feel sort of strange, and that particular feeling in my gut only intensified when we reached the main entry of the office building. Well, 'office building' may have been a bit of an overstatement, it was a small and very plain two storey brick construction, with a plate door and grates on its ground floor windows, which were otherwise completely glassless or broken. It wasn't exactly a foreboding, but it certainly was _something_.

The door was locked, but gave way relatively easy after I kicked it heartily a few times and we let ourselves in carefully. A stale and musty air reigned all over despite the broken or absent windows, and only a dim light made its way into the hallway. Ciel produced a mini flashlight and used it to sweep over the darker corners, but nothing drew our attention other than a large glass panel embedded in one of the walls, which contained some sort of scheme of the whole plant. It didn't prove very helpful though, the letters were barely visible beneath the thick layer of dust and the respective annotations did not make much sense to outsiders. There were indeed three large tanks, but all of them appeared to be located outside, so they weren't what we were looking for. There were also several halls - and possibly warehouses - of various dimensions, but again the squares and irregular shapes we could distinguish on that scheme did not help at all.

"Whoever put this file together is a complete moron, I don't know what the hell I'm supposed to do with it!" the investigator concluded, stuffing the papers back into his messenger bag. "Apart from the fact that we'd need some fucking assault troops to properly clean this place up, how does one find a breed?" he muttered. "Do we look for recent trails, do we use our nose to see where any foul smell might come from? Hell, this is a _chemical_ plant, so of course it stinks everywhere!"

Eventually, since we were wasting our time in there, we walked outside into the relatively fresh air and Ciel took a deep breath. "This place is very fitting, if you think of it," he pointed, as we decided to follow a set of suspended pipes into the depths of the complex, "it's isolated and abandoned, and this pervasive unpleasant scent of substances is likely to mask the stench of carcasses or whatever rotten shit they feed on. But it is rather intriguing how they can cope with the toxic vapors and the infested water around here…" the boy observed as he accidentally stomped into a puddle of dubious coloration.

"Maybe the thing is that their bodies do not abide by the biological laws as we know them…" I suggested sheepishly. _Yeah, just maybe…_ "or they are instinctively avoiding dangerous areas and-" I was cut off midsentence by the sudden frozen expression of my investigator, who was staring intently at something ahead of us. His one eye had widened in horror at the sight, and I followed his gaze admittedly reluctant. Just because I could handle relatively extreme situations did not mean I was in any way comfortable with them, hell no! And then I saw _it_.

"That's one… very ugly dog," I stated, observing the unsightly creature fixing us from a relatively short distance. The dog – if that's what it really was, or had been at any rate – was a large beast with matted brown fur which had fallen completely in places, revealing the crusted and rotten skin underneath. Its eyes of murky, unnatural lime green shade were intent upon its potential prey – namely us – while a trail of slobber leaked from its sharp teethed mouth as it let out a low but prolonged growl.

"Shit!" Ciel whispered, as his hand advanced slowly towards his bag. That tiny gesture was all that the creature needed as a new confirmation that we were alive – and consequently – edible. It crouched slightly and then leaped forward, with a louder growl this time, running straight for the kill.

"S-Sebastian, shoot it! Shoot it NOW!" the petite boy at my side shouted terrified, while he mindlessly fumbled with the bag unable to locate his own gun. I drew my own in the blink of an eye and aimed for the head, before it would get the chance to get too close for a clear shot. The single gunshot echoed oddly in the still silence of the surroundings as the creature's skull exploded, splattering around something that could hardly qualify as blood.

"I think we should head back to the car now, I'll just tell Father Faustus that we didn't-" Ciel decided and tugged at my arm, but my senses were still on the alert. There was a vague sound I could perceive in the distance – almost like a chanted, multiple growling – and it was drawing nearer and nearer. Going back wasn't necessarily a bad idea, but the gates were no longer in sight and as far as I knew, we could have been surrounded. I quickly scanned the area for any potential refuge – there were a few buildings around but hell knew what other 'surprises' might have been inside and I wasn't going to take any chances. And so the only valid option remained the concrete pillars supporting the suspended pipes.

"Oh, _FUCK_! There are more of them, many more!" Ciel said, motioning towards the multiple sets of peculiar eyes that had literally popped out of nowhere – as if they'd been waiting all along - and were now trained on us. It was quite a large pack of similarly looking creatures and it was closing in on us, slowly but surely. Damn! As per Faustus' instructions, the fact that I was actually a demon had to remain undisclosed, and that made things really complicated, as I pondered a way to get us both out of the current pressing situation in a 'human' manner.

A sudden gunshot interrupted my thoughts, followed by an eruption of angry, vicious growls as the mutt which Ciel had managed to wound was tackled and almost instantly ripped to pieces by a few of its companions. But that was only a brief distraction for the beasts and the others now moved more determinedly towards us.

"Well if there was any need to stir the shit further, you just did it," I grumbled under my breath, rapidly grabbing my investigator by the waist with one arm and lifting him up as I darted towards the nearest supporting pillar as fast as I could.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Sebastian!? We must shoot them, put me down and fire, God damn it! We must-" the boy struggled against my grip, while unsuccessfully trying to aim again. "Shut up!" I cut him off, as the fingers of my other hand steadily clenched into the tiny crevices of that rough surface and I began to climb.

" _ARE YOU COMPLETELY MAD_?! We're going to fall!" Ciel screamed, now desperately wrapping his arms around my neck. Okay, so maybe that wasn't a very 'human' way to do it after all... But the hell with that, we couldn't waste more time on such considerations if we wanted to survive. The growls and occasional barks below resounded louder as I moved higher and higher up and the pursuing pack gathered angrily at the bottom of the pillar.

"Sebastian, t-they're coming after us!" the boy pointed choking, as he struggled to free his gun arm and fired. The mutt that had inched closest to us collapsed to the ground with a squeal, but that did not seem to deter the others, which no longer bothered with the corpse this time – they'd picked up our scent and they weren't going to settle for less. Fortunately I'd reached far enough, so I simply hurled Ciel upwards, pushing him so that he could climb onto the twin pipes by himself without much difficulty.

Without his burden to hinder my movements and since the boy was otherwise occupied –namely with his own safety - I heaved myself up with ease to a spot just under the pipes and crouched, pulling out both guns. As the mutts clawed their way up surprisingly fast, I decided that there was no time to waste on skillful aiming, so I set the Berettas on full-auto mode and sprayed the bunch with several sweeping motions. The noise was horrible – the mixture of gun blasts and furious growls was loud enough to be heard from a good distance and possibly attract unwanted attention, but I did not stop until there were nothing but dead, already half-decayed bodies piling onto the ground.

"Sebastian? Are you alright?" Ciel inquired, breaking the eerie silence that fell immediately afterwards, even more suffocating than the stench of the dead breeds below us.

"Yeah… I'm just not a dog fan, really… I prefer cats,"I replied with a sigh as I climbed to join him up onto the pipes. "You okay there?"

The investigator nodded, still pretty much white in the face, as he was sat uncomfortably between the two large tubes, his legs partially dangling in the air on each side, and clutching his gun. "You're quite… strong, aren't you?" he said with an awkward shrug, and I noticed it was more of a statement than a question. The reluctant compliment made me smile inwardly, but I did not show it.

"Come, we need to make our way back to the exit," I said in reply, "and I suggest we stick to these pipes. Walking on the ground may still be quite hazardous, I'd rather we didn't risk that"

"W-what? But-" Ciel stammered terrified, making no attempt to move from his spot. "How do you think…? We can't walk on these things all the way to… we can't walk on these things at all!"

"I'm afraid we'll have to crawl all the way then, Ciel. Getting down from here is not safe, we don't know how many there might still be out there, even if it's all quiet now. You know, it kind of looked to me that they were lying in wait for us or something… They might devour each other if there's no other choice, but it's fresh meat they crave and they'll do anything to get it"

"O-okay… let's do this then…"


	4. Chapter 4

And so we began crawling onto the small space between those two twin pipes, a small bit at a time, towards the exit. It was a troublesome task and it stepped on my nerves all the more since it could have been avoided entirely, had I not had to pretend that I was 'human'. Honestly, how obnoxious!

Ciel was advancing in front of me painfully slow, desperately forcing his fear stuck muscles to keep moving. His breathing was erratic and tension was seeping through his every pore, making his smell so much more enticing… I knew I wouldn't be particularly hungry again until nightfall, when it was my usual feeding time, but still… this really wasn't helping. Of course, I couldn't even dream on preying on _that_ little virgin – Faustus had made it clear that he did not care whom I fed on – or on how many, for that matter – as long as it wasn't anyone from his staff (it was a bit weird actually, that he'd said that, huh…). Fair enough, I reckoned – hell, I wasn't picky – but had I decided to do feed on my petite investigator it wouldn't have been because he was _pure_ , but rather because he was a _pure pain in the ass_.

"AH FUCK!" he shouted out of the blue, and I was pulled from my musings, snapping my head up to see what the problem was.

"What?"

"Ah, fuck! Fuck! I looked down, fuck!" the investigator cursed incessantly, unable to crawl another inch further, while I couldn't but mentally facepalm. Hell, this wasn't going smooth at all.

"Well, like I said," I managed with all the calm I could muster under the circumstances, " _don't_ look down…"

"And where the fuck am I supposed to look, huh?" came the instant retort. "Where can I look but down!? And I don't particularly like what I'm contemplating, namely a nasty fifty feet fall down onto solid concrete!"Ciel grumbled. "What the hell are we doing up here anyway?"

 _That's a good question! Why on earth did we climb up here? I wonder…_ I sighed. "Oh I don't know… you could look ahead maybe? Like, keep your eyes on the target or something? The target being the damned exit…"

He said nothing more in reply, which was truly a blessing, and finally began moving again. Subsequently I enjoyed some twenty minutes of peace, in which I could ponder about how my new job was testing my few and meager 'human' qualities so much more than my demonic abilities as it should have been, before being faced with the next problem.

"Ah shit!" Ciel suddenly exclaimed. "Sebastian, we have a problem!"

"Indeed," I agreed in a lower voice, before asking out loud. "What?"

"Oh, nothing, just that the pipes happen to end right here!" he replied in obvious annoyance since, oh well, I'd just given him the attitude…" I think they're severed or something! We can't go any further!"

 _Fantastic!_ "Just stay there, okay? I'm going to go see what we can do…" I slipped off the pipes to their underside, where I began to crawl swiftly onto the rusted plates, my tensed fingers adhering perfectly to the rugged texture. I was counting on the fact that Ciel could not see me from where he was, and tried to make as less noise as possible as I made my observation.

We had almost reached the administrative building which had been the starting point of our little unfortunate adventure, and yes, 'almost reached' were indeed the right words to describe the situation. The pipes ended some thirteen feet above and six feet to the left of the building's back terrace, half way up its actual height, which was a plane, leveled surface surrounded by some decrepit iron railing. It wasn't so bad – I decided – and on a normal day I could have just jumped casually onto that terrace, now all I had to do was to land us both there while looking 'human'. Simple really, pfffft… I crawled further up the abrupt end of the pipes and then climbed on their ghastly insides - slicing the sleeve of my favorite leather jacket onto the sharp edges in the process – until I was on top once more, appearing right in front of Ciel.

"Aaaahhh, you moron! What the fuck do you think you're doing, popping up like that?!" he shouted, slightly losing his balance as he moved backwards. "I could have taken you for a breed and shot you, damn it! H-how the fuck did you do that, huh?"

"That's not important," I dismissed the question quickly, "we need to get down onto that terrace over there. It has a door we can break and then we'll just make our way out of the…" I trailed off not entirely sure what to think as his one eye widened in utter horror."…building"

"Honestly, Sebastian, did you smoke something funny earlier? Is that why you're pulling all these pranks?" he asked dryly, somewhat like a placid father who was trying to get some reason into his rebellious child in as much of a non-aggressive manner as possible, knowing in his infinite wisdom that yelling would not help. "How do you think we can get there, huh? Just… jump or something? What do you think we are, the fucking Ninja Turtles?"

 _I love my job, I love my job, I love my job…_ I repeated the little cliché mantra in my mind, although its efficiency was known to be questionable, as I thought of what to do next. What I _wasn't_ going to do was to waste my time having an argument with the little bastard. "Yes," I said eventually, "that's exactly what we're going to do, so come here, please"

I thought I had more insults coming, but all Ciel did was to gulp and chew his bottom lip with a terrified expression. But still, he crawled forward towards my crouched form, until he was right next to me. "And now what?" he asked, glancing past my shoulder at the brick wall that seemed so far.

"Now hold on tight!" I instructed, wrapping my right arm securely around his small waist. I turned, facing the intended landing spot and launched forward, in a smooth leap. And it would have been smooth all the way, if it weren't for the pungent need to make it look 'real'. I mentally cursed _Father_ Faustus in earnest and foulest as we tumbled down roughly, my back and shoulder making a painful contact with the hard surface and both of us slamming right into a pile of debris I hadn't previously noticed. A piece of loose wire scratched my cheek as we rolled and I heard Ciel whimpering beneath me. Hell, good thing I hadn't crushed him entirely!

"Hey! Are you alright? What happened?" I asked worriedly and I could smell the blood even before he held up his injured left hand. An ugly cut ran across his palm, the one he'd kept in front of his face to shield himself. _Fuck!_ I forced my focus away from that aroma that was so enticing all the sudden and did my best to shake off my hunger kick. "You don't happen to have a first aid kit in that bag of yours?"

"It-it's back in the car…" the investigator stammered morosely, holding his wrist tightly as I hurled him up to his feet.

"Here, let me take a look," I said, fully aware that _it was_ a bad idea, but still arguing with myself that I had to assess his condition. After all, his safety was my job. The cut wasn't very deep, but the edges were stained with rust from whatever piece of metallic debris had caused it. "It's not that bad, but it must be cleaned as soon as possible," I stated, "so given the circumstances I suggest you lick it clean…"

" _What_? But it's dirty! And so much blood…" Ciel grimaced, averting his gaze from the unsightly wound.

"Oh fuck, let me do it then!" I rolled my eyes and, almost without thinking, I took hold of his fragile wrist and brought his hand to my lips, pulling him forward a bit forcefully. I resisted the urge to close my eyes and simply savor as the rich flavor of his young blood filled my mouth, hardy affected by the slight taste of metal and dirt. My tongue dabbed carefully around the actual cut as well as inside it, because one didn't have to be a genius to guess it must have stung like hell.

"Ewww... that's-that's enough, Sebastian!"Ciel pointed out loud with a grimace. "Honestly, how the fuck can you do that? It's disgusting!"

"I know, sorry…" I muttered releasing his hand and rapidly licking a drop off the corner of my lips – and I could only hope that I hadn't been too obvious. "But it had to be cleaned a.s.a.p., you know, with all that rust and stuff it could have gotten infected…"

"Aha, it had to…" he repeated suspiciously, digging into his bag with the other hand for a napkin pack. "And you didn't spit it out because…? It was a lot of blood, not to mention dirty"

I rolled my eyes again and sighed conspicuously. "It wasn't 'a lot of blood', it just looked like it, okay? The wound is not that deep, it should be alright if you keep it pressed with something until we get back to the base. A napkin or two should do just fine"

"Yes, _dad_. Will do…" he served it back to me with a low groan, shaking his head in a 'you're hopeless' manner.

 _God, punish me how you will for the fall of my soul, but don't give me any children…_ I couldn't help thinking as we headed for the door that led into the building. It was open, and we crept in as soundlessly as possible, flashlight in hand. For all we knew, there could have been more 'surprises' waiting inside, that we'd missed on our first visit.

* * *

The first floor was just as eerie as the ground level, the hallway between offices sunken in an even deeper darkness now that the daylight was gradually fading. More dust covered schemes, industrial maps, along with some dull pictures dotted the walls onto the chipped mortar, adding to the pathetic impression. But at least I could pick up no scent of decay floating around, and that was a good sign. I really hoped we wouldn't get to see anymore action for the day, since I only had one more charger, and when that was going to be empty, well… playing human wouldn't be an option anymore.

"Hey, wait! I want to see what's in here," Ciel suddenly said, motioning towards an office door left slightly ajar, and before I could stop him, he stepped inside.

 _What's in here? Like what the fuck could possibly be in here, other than more breeds?_ "Hey! Look, Ciel, I've got only one charger left and you've got what, five shots maybe? After that we're fucked, like with capital 'F', so I strongly recommend we get the hell out of here while we can, okay? It'll be dark soon too…"

But did the little shit listen to me? Hell no! He'd began going through the various lockers and cabinets, rummaging carelessly, fumbling with old files, leafing through random papers and occasionally chocking with the dust he'd stirred in his frenzy. "Look, Sebastian," he explained seriously, "this is important! This is my job, okay? Not only do I need to find out where the breeds are and what they're up to, but I also need to find out if they've got anything…"

I blinked, utterly perplexed. "If they've… _got anything_? Like what? What the fuck could those dogs possibly have, huh? Other than some serious appetite for sweet folks like us, that is!"

The investigator sighed. "Honestly… of course those fucking dogs don't have anything! But their owner may have! And if there really is something, then it makes more sense for it to be here, in these offices, rather than… I don't know, out there," he said with a vague gesture.

 _What? Wait! Their… owner?_ But the question itself froze unspoken onto my lips as a faint singing could be heard suddenly outside in the hallway. _Oh, shit!_ Ciel too stopped in mid-search and dropped the file he was currently leafing through onto a nearby table, and his right hand delved to his belt for the gun.

"Now, now, I wonder… who has been sitting on my stool? Who has been eating off my plate? Who has been picking my bread? Who has been meddling with my spoon? Who has been handling my fork? Who has been cutting with my knife? Who has been drinking my wine? Who has been lying on my bed?" the voice sang in a sickening drawl, getting closer and closer. "But I especially wonder…" – the door suddenly burst open, flying free from its hinges and landing onto the wooden floor with a loud thud, "who has been invading my property and who has been messing with my dainty little pets, huh?"

I peeked from behind the door of the large locker I'd hid into, and saw a strange looking fellow, wrapped in a long, bright red coat pulled only half-way up his upper arms, over a pristine white shirt and black tie, and a black silk vest. Very long strands of hair in the same color as his coat draped themselves around his skinny shoulders and further down, past his waist. He looked like one corporate employee gone mental.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" he urged, apparently impatient. "Because I already know you're in here, see I heaaaard you!" the weirdo added, taking a few steps towards the desk Ciel had hid under. He was getting dangerously close, so something had to be done. And I just knew I was going to hate this.

"Hey you! Stop right there!" I shouted, stepping out and pointing my one loaded gun straight at his head. He turned abruptly, eyeing me curiously from behind some matching glasses, with a pair of lime green eyes that clearly betrayed his true nature. The discovery left me a tad confused, this dubious shade usually belonged to lower breeds, which would only embody themselves into animals, I'd never seen anything like it in 'human' form. Apparently, I had a lot to learn still.

"Soooo, it was you then, my good sir!" he exclaimed excited, his gaze measuring me curiously, as if I were something else entirely. He'd probably figured out _what I was_ too, and I could only hope he would not voice his discovery before I got the chance to finish him off. However, it did not seem to impress him at all, and I couldn't decide if that was good or bad. Probably bad.

"Now, now, you didn't really think you could mess around and still escape the honorable Grell Sutcliff, did you?"

"Watch out, Sebastian, he has a chainsaw!" Ciel suddenly cried from under the desk as the breed swiftly delved his left hand somewhere under his long coat.

_He has a… WHAT?_

My finger pulled the trigger and the bullets sprayed out even before my mind could actually process the information, my own thoughts muffled for a second by the horrible buzzing of the chainsaw's engine. The device had a huge blade, which the creature maneuvered with incredible speed, using it to dodge every single shot and making them rebound into the surrounding walls. The fire itself was cut short a few moments later, when the gun barrel was severed clean, only a few millimeters away from my fingers. _FUCK._

"Ah, _Sebastian_ , I am so pleasantly surprised to see you're ready to actually put up a fight!" he shrieked in excitement as I tossed aside the useless remainders of my Beretta, while the damned breed curiously awaited my next move. The fucking bastard was enjoying it. My gaze fell onto an office chair with metallic legs which I deemed resistant enough against that wicked blade – at least until I got a better idea – and I swiftly hurled it up by the backrest, swinging the sharp legs in his direction. They clashed with the chainsaw with a shrieking noise of metal scraped against metal, sparks flying around as I pushed into him, but the creature would not budge. He was stronger than I'd expected, and that was a rather unsettling discovery…

"You're good, _sweet Bassy_ ," the breed drawled, grinning widely with a mouth full of sharp teeth," but you're no match for me!"

"Fuck you!" I stated, pulling the chair away from his weapon, even if it resulted in that damned blade chipping away a bit of my sleeve at the shoulder – well fuck it, the flesh would heal and the jacket was fucked already – and swung it at his head with all my strength. The metal legs made contact with the creature's face, making him lose his balance, while the chainsaw flew from his hand and dropped to the ground, engine still buzzing horridly. I swung again, giving him no time to react, angrily - and admittedly rather desperate – because this was the worst shit I'd faced until then and I wasn't planning on it being the last as well.

"Oh, Bassy, you really know how to blow a girl's mind, don't you!" the breed mocked me, recovering surprisingly fast, and I cringed at the use of that awful pet name. "Here, let me give you some love, baby boy!" He dodged another blow and booted me in the stomach so hard that I was slammed into the locker behind me and I nearly dropped the chair. I got a bit dizzy as the air was kicked out of my lungs, and a sharp pain shot through my insides. And that really pissed me. I charged and shoved the chair into his frame as hard as I could, managing to take him by surprise – probably because he hadn't expected I'd get up so fast – and knocked him off his feet, pinning him down with the chair. And I had every intention to ask if there were more like him around, but a gunshot rapidly put an end to his struggle.

"Hah, fuck! I've never seen anything like this before – a breed in human form!" Ciel stated, extracting himself from under the desk and placing the gun back into his belt while drawing closer to peek at the dead thing lying at our feet. "I'd only heard of them, but they're really rare or something, I guess…"

_Oh, very rare indeed… you're talking to one right now…_

"See? I told you those dogs had a master!" he pointed victoriously. "Now let's see what he's got…" And saying that, he once more proceeded to rummage through the papers he'd so abruptly abandoned earlier. I took a few moments to catch my breath and will away the boiling anger I suddenly felt towards this vile little person who'd almost fucked us both monumentally, before I stepped forward in utter determination and grabbed him by the back of his collar, holding him up so brutally that he let out a yelp, dropping his papers.

"You have a fucking death wish, don't you, you little shit?!" I growled into his face, "This is probably how you fucking killed your last fighter, but you won't get me killed, get that? Pick up your shit because we're getting the hell out of here! _NOW_!"

* * *

The petite investigator was still petulant as I dropped him onto the passenger seat, but at least he was quiet. I fumbled a bit with the keys, because my right arm was still pulsating with the pain of my wounded shoulder, and I noticed he was staring at me with an unreadable expression that I would not hazard myself so far as to consider pity.

"Dr. Tanaka must see to your wounds and you can take the day off tomorrow," he eventually uttered, still ill-humored but somewhat soft.

"Thanks…" I grumbled tiredly. Fuck, and that had only been my first day on the new job. Was it always this fun?

"It's okay… you've earned it. Now start the car, _sweet Bassy_ ," Ciel suddenly snickered maliciously. Oh fuck. I wasn't going to hear the end of this.


	5. Chapter 5

I would have dropped instantly and without hesitation onto the all too inviting bed, if – and there was a big if there – I weren't hungry. As I stood there contemplating the sweet perspective of some much needed rest, I realised that _this_ was going to be a problem… The fact that I was now supposed to share the miniscule two room apartment within the base with my investigator was rather troublesome in terms of my 'dinner time' – because I would have to sneak out unnoticed every night. And that was only one of the things that made me nervous about this whole co-habitation idea, because I enjoyed my peace and solitude, I liked it nice and quiet and I had a very strong feeling that now all that was going to go down the drain.

I sighed tiredly, rummaging through my still half-unpacked luggage and picked a clean long sleeved T-shirt, which I pulled on hastily, leaving the rest in the same messy state. My black jeans were dirty, but I dusted them quickly with my hands, mainly brushing the rust off the knees and then they were 'as good as new'.

"Hey! Where are you going?"

_Oh yeah, I totally had that one coming…_

My roommate slash nemesis was eyeing me questioningly from the doorframe of his room, with folded arms and a blunt expression. Aside from his job with the NUIT, Ciel was also taking some classes at the university for some obscure history major, and since only half an hour earlier he had slammed the door of his book infested room in my face pretending he was extremely busy – after briefly explaining where I could find Dr. Tanaka and have my wound looked at – I had most naively assumed that he would be much too engulfed in his study to monitor my movements. Well, I had been wrong…

"I just need to… get some things I forgot back at my old apartment. My landlord gave me until the end of the week to vacate it completely, so I'd better… get to it, you know?" I muttered a more or less solid explanation, hoping he would just buy it and get off my case.

His thin eyebrow shot up with suspicion as he gave me a curious once-over. "But it's only Tuesday. Do you have to go now?"

"Yeah, but-"

"And it's like, almost dinner time," he pointed. "I already told you that. Are you going to miss dinner? Because no one will save any food _especially_ _for you_!" Ciel warned. Well, wasn't he an absolutely 'sublime' mixture between a pestering spouse and a horrible parent…

"And here I thought you were worried about my condition," I snorted ironically. "But yes, I really have to go now, I left something really important back at my place."

"Like what, the blankie you cannot sleep without? Pfttt… you're hopeless…"

The one blue orb was rolled dramatically, before the little monster slipped back into his den and slammed the door again, this time without making the mortar fall. I hurriedly shoved my set of keys into my back pocket as I walked out, almost asking myself how come his blood hadn't poisoned me or something.

* * *

The next few days passed uneventful, as my investigator had several classes to go to as well as papers to deliver, and I found myself in the not-so-unpleasant confines of desk work. Spending my day in the small office wasn't so bad, and I busied myself with reading as much as I could of breed related research.

I admittedly had a bit of an awkward moment reading about _The Admirable History of Possession and Conversion of a Penitent,_ written in 1610 by a French inquisitor and prior of the Dominican order, named _Sebastien Michaelis_ , who had also been involved in a series of cases in 1581 and 1582 and had led to at least fourteen women being convicted and burnt for witchcraft. Could this be a coincidence? I briefly wondered if the demons didn't actually have some twisted sense of humor after all… But I dismissed it quickly, being generally of the opinion that dealing with the practical side of things usually helped more. Okay so, maybe that demon had indeed chosen me because of this funny name coincidence, but so what? That didn't change anything – _I_ was still a demon, the demon Sebastian Michaelis. Hell, probably that name didn't ring any bells to anyone these days…

Also, it probably had nothing to do with the reason I – a 'breed' - had been recruited by Father Faustus, along with that boy named Finny and… well, I hadn't seen the other two of his operational teams yet. And it wasn't so much the reason that intrigued me – after all we _were_ better fighters than any human – as the complete comfort and assuredness he displayed when around us. Honestly, did he really believe that demons could be somehow _tamed_? Did he think we could just 'switch sides' just because he'd said we should, that we could somehow defy our true nature and deny our instincts? I honestly doubted it was all because of his _faith_ as he'd once briefly mentioned, or his hope that I for one would sooner or later seek redemption, and I was rather inclined to think that he knew something I didn't. Something I needed to find out.

Lizzy would occasionally pop up into my glass enclosure, just to check if the object of her 'secret' adoration hadn't dropped by between classes – apparently he did have an odd schedule, but he also proved beyond skillful when it came to avoiding her – and would entertain me with the latest gossip every now and then. Although it was Ciel she loved to talk about most of the time, and that was how I came to find out a bit of odd information – despite the fact that Vincent and Rachel Phantomhive had dedicated (and ultimately given) their lives to NUIT, they had always clearly opposed the idea of their son taking up their sort of work. In fact, so intent had they been upon it that the boy had spent almost his entire life in boarding schools, away from his parents. Now, there was nothing weird about that, it made sense that they'd wanted to protect their only child and shield him from the horror they faced on a daily basis. That night, two years before, when the attack had taken place, he'd been exceptionally allowed to come and spend the day with them because it was his sixteenth birthday.

No, the weird thing was that, even after everything the boy had been through precisely because of his family's involvement with NUIT, Faustus had personally insisted that Ciel should remain at the base and that it was his duty to continue his parents' work. It was true that he had no other living family but still, the priest could have kept an eye on him from a safe distance if he'd wanted. But for some unknown reason Faustus wanted to keep him close, even if it meant risking his life.

All in all, things were quite peculiar, to say the least, and they were going to get even more so.

* * *

It was well past midnight and I'd just had a rich Friday night 'dinner' downtown – I just loved nightclubs where people got so damn wasted, beyond all will and memory, it really made everything so much easier for me. I unlocked the door and let myself into the dim lit church, with nothing but the soft bed awaiting below on my mind, when something suddenly made me stop dead in my tracks – the scent of blood. That special smell, a very distinctive aroma sharply hit my nostrils and I could but inhale deeply, despite the fact that I was _theoretically_ full. The scent of fresh, young blood, and I could only perceive it more clearly as I advanced towards the altar.

I could hear some movement, something like fidgeting and sobbing, even if no one was in view. I drew closer carefully, almost on my tiptoes, because after meeting that guy with the chainsaw, fuck, nothing would have surprised me… too much. I finally realised that the faint noise was coming from under a table and, rather reluctantly, I pulled up the long brocade tablecloth in one swift motion.

"Hah! Sebastian! I-it was you…oh!" Alois gasped, looking up at me with a wry smile, awkwardly plastered onto a very pale face on which terror was still obvious. Fatigue was written all over his delicate, still childish features, and he was breathing very slowly, as if that effort alone was suddenly too much for him.

"Are you… alright?" I quickly gave him a once-over as he pulled himself from under the table and dusted off his white robes with a shaky hand. I could see no apparent wound on him, yet I was almost sure that the blood I could still smell was his. "What were you doing there?"

"Oh nothing, just… Father Faustus had asked me to prepare everything for the mass tomorrow, but I have taken a few hours off and got to work really late… and now I'd just dropped something and it rolled under the table… heh…" he said, holding up a small knife he'd been clutching in his right hand all along.

"Oh… are you sure you're okay though? You look a bit-"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine!" Alois hurried to say before I could ask anything else. "So, um… how's living with Ciel?"

"Oh, huh…funny you should ask but… it's okay I guess…" I shrugged away the unpleasant subject. _He's a demon, I'm a demon and everything is hell…_ "You know… I mean at least he's not boring…"

"Soooo, you are the new one, Sebastian Michaelis!" a voice hissed nearby and I turned abruptly, almost forgetting my previous curiosity. "I was wondering whether you are any different than what we had so far, or should I already take measures for your coffin?" The voice turned out to belong to a creepy looking monk who had just popped out from behind a pillar, as if he'd been waiting there all along. The hood of his robe and long silvery strands of hair covered the upper half of his scarred face entirely, adding to the eerie vibe of his black clad figure.

"What are you doing here, Undertaker?" Alois scolded him in a tone that clearly betrayed his discomfort at the sight of the other. "Honestly, don't you have anything better to do?"

"Nope, this is my job – to take care of the dead, and of the _to die_ as well, for that matter!" the monk chuckled cheerfully, "Now off you go, little boy, you should be in bed at this hour!" he added and waved his long sleeve suggestively.

The blonde scowled and grumbled something like a swear under his breath, but eventually obeyed. The strange fellow gave me an unsettling feeling and I didn't like it one bit, especially because I could not see his eyes and yet I knew he was staring at me. Just what the hell was wrong with this place anyway? I turned my back on him quite rudely, determined to follow the boy to the stairs, because I was in no mood for anymore crap for the moment.

"Look at you… poor, unfortunate being," he spoke suddenly," suffering _his_ thirst, and all you've got in return is this pathetic ability to jump around. Some shit deal you've got yourself there, I daresay…"

So…he _knew._ For some reason I found that disturbing, not to mention I'd always been annoyed by people who claimed they knew me better than I knew myself or that they knew _something_ about me that I wasn't aware of. _Honestly, fuck that!_

"What did you say?"

I took a few large steps in his direction, maybe in some unconscious attempt to intimidate him, but to my surprise the strange monk walked up to meet me half way. He moved fast, faster than I'd expected from an old man such as he, and without any warning his hand shot up towards my face. Before I knew it, I found myself down on my knees, the heel of his palm relentlessly pushing my forehead backwards, my head forced back way more than it would have normally gone – or so it felt anyway. I writhed and choked, desperately grabbing and clawing at his one outstretched arm, but he had me in an iron grip.

"The one who lives within you lies asleep, and you wouldn't dare wake him… _Paquar-Rah, daemon cornix_! You could have so much more of his power, you could have _ALL HIS POWER_! Because you _are_ him!" he recited solemnly, the tone of his voice rising gradually as he spoke. "All you have to do is to… get to know more of him. Get to know more of _YOURSELF_!"

"I… don't…want… more p-power…" I stammered suffocating. I was already paying enough of a price for whatever power I did have. My eyes had rolled in the back of my head under his ministrations – although I had no idea what it was that he was doing to me – and all I could see in that moment was a sea of burning, bright red.

 _I don't want to know Paquar-Rah, the crow demon! I don't want to wake him up! I don't want to know_ more _of him than I do already! I don't want to thirst more than I already do!_ my mind screamed desperately what my voice could not.

"You will need _more power_ if you want to survive… As you may have seen already, this isn't exactly your cup of tea. As for those fools down below, they'll all be dead before they realise this is a war they alone can't win!" the monk snickered sinisterly. "All they ever do is get me burdened with work, all I ever get to see is an ever rising pile of corpses! I want to see more than this!"

"Nhggggh-ahhh, noo…" I begged, bile rising in my throat and my racing pulse one with my terror, because I knew now what he wanted of me and I couldn't fight it in any way.

"You are afraid to look into him, because you don't want to see what he is truly made of!" he went on, "You don't want to see what _YOU_ are truly made of! You don't want to see what _YOU_ have become!"

 _NO! NO! NO!_ I could barely focus on his words anymore because everything was suddenly burning, I was engulfed by flames and a sea of black feathers. Each and every one of them was sharp like a blade and it pierced my skin and my flesh, tearing my very core into tiny pieces while I would just lie there helpless, with my throat dry and consumed by want and unable to scream my torment.

"Don't fight it…" the Undertaker's voice resounded from somewhere far above my personal hell, above the fear I was so unwilling to face, above that of which I would have done anything not to be forced to face. Who was this man, and why was he doing this to me? "Open your eyes and see. See _everything_."

_I was born when the world was young, in a cradle of lies, and wickedness, and all that is evil…_

_My skin was burned with the light of a thousand suns and my wings have batted against a thousand winds…_

_My claws have scraped all dry sand and all moist earth, my tongue has delved into salty oceans and sweet ponds, never drawing out one drop to quench the thirst which is my plague…_

"What do you see?" the monk questioned, almost in a sort of trancelike awe. "Tell me…what do you see? I want to know!"

_My breath is fire and my tears are ice, and I have taken the souls of wise men and the hearts of fools, but it's all nothing to me, for I have all the knowledge and I hold no answers…_

_And I have feasted upon honest and deceitful, good and evil alike, I have fed on rivers of blood and I have ripped flesh and shattered bones, yet my thirst has endured and my pain has remained unsoothed…_

"Hhhhhhhhhhh… I see nothing…" my voice suddenly came out as a coarse and hissed, foreign whisper." I care for nothing… I only thirst… I only hurt… and you cannot know of it…"

_For I am a sea of fire and anger, but my insides are empty, and cold, and barren…_

* * *

A cold hand was pressed soothingly upon my forehead and my eyes stirred open, resting upon the pale features of Father Faustus hovering somewhere above me. My body was numb and twisted awkwardly, my legs bent at the knees in an unnatural position. I'd never felt that weak and consumed in a very long time.

"Get up, we have no time for this," he said, "Ciel has been taken."


	6. Chapter 6

_**Warnings: This chapter contains some graphic violence** _

"Well, at first he said he'd be home earlier, because his last class had gotten canceled or something…" Lizzy sobbed, desperately clutching the soaked napkin, "But then… he was running late and when I called he said he'd taken a little detour… that there was this place he wanted to see and take some pictures of…"

Faustus shook his head and sighed, straightening his spectacles. "Elizabeth," he said gravely, "you know he's not supposed to go investigate on his own, it's too dangerous! You should have told me right away what he was planning to do!"

"Un-fucking-believable! Do we even know where he went?" Alois asked, rolling his eyes. "He's been missing since… four o'clock? Really now!"

"I called his mobile phone about an hour ago and I got this text message in reply…" Father Faustus said, flipping his cell open and holding it up for me to see. _'We've got your little mongrel. Come after him if you dare, we could use more of you for the lovely full moon tomorrow night'._ There was also an address written just after the message.

"Wow, now breeds can text! Like, how cool is that?" the blonde pointed, before a cold glare from his mentor shut him up.

"Get geared up, both of you, we're leaving. Now." Faustus ordered sternly, and I stared a bit in confusion. Alois was pale as hell under the sarcastic front he was putting, he positively looked like he was about to pass out in any moment. Yet the priest did not seem to notice – or to care – about his condition whatsoever. _What the hell is going on?_ I wondered with a scowl. But the question never left my lips, I wasn't planning on sticking my nose anywhere it didn't belong. For now.

* * *

The black SUV stopped on a dark, garbage infested backstreet, in front of a bizarre looking old chapel. The place had been abandoned for a long time, but the lock used to seal the ancient wooden door was broken and hung off a rusty chain on one side. It was truly a 'lovely' place to visit at night, and – as far as I was concerned – even in daytime.

"This is the place," Father Faustus informed, slamming the vehicle door shut. "We'd better hurry and hope he's still alive…"

A sudden wave of nausea washed over me at the thought of some sinister and gruesome discovery awaiting behind those ominous looking walls, as I was still feeling weak from earlier. It really couldn't have been a worse moment for this little nocturnal adventure. I clutched the new Remington 870 shotgun Bardroy had generously placed at my disposal this time, feeling in no way reassured by the powerful weapon, the memory of the chainsaw fellow still fresh in my mind.

Faustus kicked the cracked door fully open with his boot, decaying splinters scattering on impact, and we walked in, carefully and exploring the place with the attached weaponlights. Everything inside, from the small and cramped stalls, to the altar decorations in the back, were covered with a thick layer of dust, now stirred by movement and dancing eerily in the rays of light.

"I don't think there's anything in here…" Alois muttered, but his partner brushed past me swiftly, heading to the back of the stone hall, as if beckoned by something the rest of us were unable to see.

"Just as I thought," he pointed, and I noticed that he was looking somewhere down. "There's a crypt in here, and the lid is ajar. Come!" We pushed the engraved stone lid aside without much effort, uncovering a descending set of stairs. It was pitch dark below, and the lights did not reach very far down as to reveal what might have lied there, sunken in darkness, waiting for us. Because that much was clear from the message we'd received – _they were waiting_ for us.

"After you, _Father_ ," I couldn't help it, secretly hoping to spot at least some discomfort, some worry on that immobile face of his. But there was none, he simply nodded and stepped down determined, shotgun at the ready. Alois kept right behind him like an obedient pup, and I threw a rapid glance around before following too.

A long, narrow tunnel opened before us, adorned with mould and cobwebs, but the air inside was warm and slightly smoke scented, a clear sign that we were on the right track – if 'right' was what you'd have called it. We advanced slowly, with ears perked at the faintest sound, but there was barely any, we were met with a stubborn and foreboding silence. I could vaguely perceive the sound of dripping water somewhere close, but nothing else. The scent of smoke grew stronger after a while, and soon we found ourselves into an area illuminated by burning torches. It was a crossroads.

"Oh, hell no…" Alois whined, glancing around disoriented. "It's a fucking labyrinth! How the hell do we know which way to go now?"

"We must split, it's the only way," the priest answered calmly, and I sincerely wondered if the man was in his right mind. Split? Sure, I had no problem with splitting, since I wasn't really counting on the two of them anyway, but they would have most likely been fucked on their own, all the more if they had separated.

"What?! But can't you see it's a trap, Claude? We'll never get out of here alive!" the blonde cried pleadingly. "You knew this was dangerous, why wouldn't you bring any backup, huh? Why are you risking-?" He was cut short when Faustus backhanded him rather brutally, almost causing the boy to drop his shotgun.

"Get a grip on yourself, Alois! You'll do as I say, without further comments!" he hissed. "Now, there are two ways – left and forward, because the path to the right is a dead end, I can see it from here. "We'll go left, and Sebastian-"

"Ah shit!" I cursed out loud, suddenly hearing some quite familiar growls in the distance. "Dogs! Get your weapons ready!" I shouted pointing to the left corridor.

" _Dogs_? What kind of dogs?"

"Breed-dogs! The kind Ciel and I ran into at that chemical plant. Get ready, they're closing in on us!" I warned and indeed, the growling was resounding closer and closer, and I could smell the putrid scent of the approaching beasts already. At least the space was narrow enough not to allow them to have us surrounded.

"Sebastian, go that way, quickly! Alois and I will stop them, but you must find Ciel and the right way must be that way! Hurry!" Faustus ordered, and to be completely honest I had no problem leaving that lunatic to his fate.

I darted almost blindly into the darkness that lay before me, not bothering to use the weaponlight anymore, but instead patting the wall I could vaguely distinguish ahead of me with my free hand. I was gradually feeling more and more moisture beneath my fingers as I moved forward, and the sound of dripping water more clear now. I only made use of the light again when my thighs very neatly bumped into something hard, which turned out to be the railing of an old stone well. And that was where the path ended, there was nothing else but that damned well, which meant… the only way from there was down.

"Oh, shit! Oh, fuck me…" I grumbled morosely while unsuccessfully employing the weaponlight to get an idea of the depth I was faced with. It was useless, the light only reached so far. I inhaled deeply, trying to will away the growing dread. "Whatever, fuck my luck…" I thought out loud, swinging my legs over the edge in one swift motion and pushing myself off into the unknown.

* * *

My landing wasn't exactly smooth. Might have been because of the pile of stones clumped at the bottom of said well, combined with my inability to properly ascertain the distance before jumping, well, whatever the cause, it wasn't smooth at all. My legs bucked beneath me onto the unsteady surface as I fell, and I hurt my knees and palms in a futile attempt to gain some support. Some sharp stone edges dug and scratched my back and my sides as I ungraciously tumbled further down and off the pile of debris. When it became clear I couldn't fall any lower and the descend was finally over, I stood up on shaky legs, aching all over and hit by the sudden realization that I'd lost my weapon somewhere along the way. Now, that was really bad. I scrutinized my hostile surroundings as much as my poor vision would allow me, but the damned thing was nowhere in sight.

 _What the hell am I going to do without the gun?_ I pondered, genuinely worried. The good thing was, with Alois and Faustus no longer around, I could use the full extent of my abilities, and as such I reckoned the breed-dogs couldn't catch me. I could run, I could climb even onto the steep and even walls and they wouldn't have been able to follow, not fast enough anyway. So somehow, I would have escaped them. _Except… the dogs don't send text messages. Someone else is here with the dogs, someone who has Ciel, and if he is even half as dangerous as the chainsaw guy… fucking hell! And most likely there is more than one…_ Well, whatever the hell was there, I would have to face them with my bare hands. Not absolutely impossible, but it wasn't going to be pretty.

I drew a deep breath, steeling my will, and suddenly picked up a familiar scent – Ciel's. It was but faint, more like the scent of his skin and not the full out flavor of his blood. That was a good thing, I supposed, at least it meant that he wasn't wounded, or in several pieces for that matter. Maybe, just maybe, he was still alive. After all, I had a reputation to maintain in the NUIT if I wanted to get to the bottom of things. I proceeded to follow the vague trail I'd picked up along a path I mostly groped into the pitch darkness, having no idea where I was going, or even if I was on the right track, for quite a while.

"Ah, _sweet Bassy_ , don't be shy… I know you're here…I knew you'd come for me! We were expecting you!" a mad, excited cackle resounded out of the blue and I nearly jumped, my ear flattened against the wall. The voice had come from the other side but… _Urghhhhh… Not that guy, not that guy, WHAT THE FUCK?! He's dead, he's fucking dead, Ciel blew his fucking brains off!_

But what do you know, he wasn't dead at all. He wasn't dead and judging by his choice of words he wasn't alone either. Just lovely.

Gritting my teeth, I shed my light jacket – which was pretty badly torn from the fall anyway (honestly, this job was seriously affecting my wardrobe) – and slammed my fist repeatedly into the wall separating me from that creature, the old mortar and bricks crumbling defenseless against my power. I hit and kicked forcefully, creating a large enough gap to allow me to pass on the other side, and I slipped in, my eyes squinting at the sudden light of blue, pale torches reflected into the dark water sloshing at my very feet. The space I currently found myself in was a large hall, almost entirely filled by a pond of indistinguishable depth, in the middle of which there was a plain stone table. And there, next to the table, stood the red-haired breed known as Grell, together with another three, identically looking triplets. All three of them had red eyes, just like mine, and the only thing different amongst them was the purple hair, worn in a slightly different way by each.

I scanned them quickly, assessing their potential – none of them looked particularly strong, but that was probably deceiving – before my gaze fell on the pale, small form lying sprawled out onto the hard surface the four breeds were closely guarding. The boy's eyes were closed, and his body was bare except for the black silk sheet covering him from his thighs up to his chest. His wrists and ankles were restrained with shackles – at least that was an indication that he wasn't dead. Yet.

"Aww, _Bassy_ , I'm disappointed!" the red haired creature stated, interrupting my observation. "Indeed, after our heated first date I really didn't think you'd be foolish enough to come all by yourself…" he pouted. "And as much as I missed you, I must say I was hoping you'd bring more like _him_ with you this time." Saying that, the breed reached and playfully ruffled Ciel's hair, causing the boy to stir and open his one good eye. The eyepatch was gone, revealing a nasty scar marring his right eyebrow, the closed lid and a bit of his cheek. He stared back at me with a horror stricken expression, a loud sob escaping his now colorless lips.

"See… you are very special to us and veeeery soon we will prove it to you," Grell went on, stooping above his prey and lightly caressing the side of his face, while the petite investigator tried to shrug away in disgust and fear. "However your friend _Bassy_ here just won't do… you see, he may be a damn fine specimen, but his blood is no good to serve our purpose…" he shook his head in chagrin. "So I'm afraid we'll have to say goodbye now!"

It happened in the blink of an eye – something ice cold suddenly pierced my torso, knocking the air out of my lungs before I could even realise what was going on.

"NOOOO! SEBASTIAN!" Ciel screamed, eyeing the spear which one of the three twin demons had hurled straight into my chest. An instant wave of dizziness and nausea washed over me, and I simply dropped down, my limp body tumbling into the dark pond, instantly engulfed by that cold, deadly embrace of water. And it all went black.

* * *

A horrible cry of pain broke its way inside my peaceful, soothing darkness, disturbing the pleasant unconsciousness. Then a tiny, weak spark of bright light erupted somewhere inside me, gradually yet rapidly morphing into a bursting flame, searing hot. It rose from the depths of my being, devouring everything in its way, feeling as if it molded every single bone, tissue and drop of blood into liquid lava, and accompanied by a sinister, growled cry of pure anger. Paquar-Rah the crow demon had fully awoken this time… and he was pissed.

My body jolted upwards with a will of its own, rising to a full stand as the beastly growl eventually made its way out of my mouth. My flesh convulsed painfully and horribly as my fingers grew and curled into long, sharp claws, and the skin of my back broke under the pressure of two large wings, springing out of my shoulder blades. The wide, black feathered appendages spread fully, menacingly, scattering drops of water in their batting.

It would have been a lie to say that the unexpected transformation did not absolutely frighten me, yet I felt more fury than anything else. My arm moved swiftly and tore the spear out of my own flesh, and I ignored the temporary bloody gash it left behind, hurling it instead at the demon who had thrown it in the first place. The weapon pierced his skull and the creature collapsed backwards with a shriek.

"Huh? What the hell is this?!" the redhead cried, lime-green eyes widening in surprise. "Kill him! Now!" he ordered, and the remaining twins charged in my direction at top speed, each armed with a pair of curve bladed swords.

" _WHO IS THAT? WHY DID HE COME FOR YOU?! SPEAK!_ " Grell yelled, jerking Ciel's head upwards by the hair, but the boy remained silent, that one, deep blue orb fixed upon me in absolute terror. _Ooops! Father Faustus won't like that I blew my 'human' cover… if he's still alive, that is…_

In the meantime, my right wing swept one of the demons even before he got the chance to get close, sending him flying into the farthest wall, while I grabbed the other with my bare hands, quickly disposing of his two blades. I eagerly clawed at his throat, driven by my flaming fury and my ever present thirst, and hungrily feasted onto the rich, crimson spurt. Yet my pleasure ended much too soon, and I remembered that I had other things to take care of, as well.

"Get away from him!" I growled eyeing the still confused Grell, taking off from where I stood, the leap much eased by the soft motion of the large wings. I landed at the end of the stone table, at Ciel's feet, and propped myself above his small body predatorily, my claws slightly crumbling the ancient stone. The red haired breed stumbled backwards, terrified, and apparently lacking his sinister chainsaw this time.

" _You're a breed!_ You're a _fucking_ breed!" the petite investigator shouted, sobbing desperately beneath me and trashing against his restraints, once past the initial shock. His tearstained face was white as a sheet and only then did I notice the complicated mark which the demons had burned onto the left side of his ribcage while I had been out cold. Why had they done such a thing? The red intricate design that stood out on his almost translucent skin did not look in any way familiar to me, I had no idea what it could have meant, yet I doubted they'd just marred the boy's flesh simply out of malice, out of the pure desire to torment him. And in what way exactly was Ciel special to them?

"What have you done to him?" I demanded menacingly to the figure crawling as far away from me as possible, and the green eyes measured me if it was possible with even more confusion.

"Heh, _Bassy_ … you will forgive me for pointing this out but… it seems you're in the dark here…" he drawled. "You _cannot_ feed on the boy just like that! He must be killed _properly_ , otherwise doom will be upon us!"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Doom will be upon us! Doom will be upon us!" he shrieked one more time before disappearing into a crevice in the wall. _Just great!_ Once more I had failed to get answers from that damned creature, only because I hadn't moved fast enough. If only my thoughts hadn't been on protecting Ciel first, I could have captured him. But well, maybe we were going to meet again…

With the breed gone, I focused my attention on Ciel and hurriedly pulled at his shackles, ripping the attached chains from the stone, and freeing his limbs. "Take me! Take me…" he breathed in a faint whisper, all strength gone from him as he instinctively tried to curl and shrug away from my touch. "What are you waiting for?!

"Take you where?" I couldn't help teasing him. The little bastard totally had it coming and I could use some amusement if I wanted to calm Paquar-Rah's fury and revert to my human form anytime soon.

"Finish me off, you fucking breed!" the investigator yelled, forcing himself to sit upright and charging to claw at my bare chest, but almost immediately his anger melted into bitter sobs. "I want it to end already! I can't take it anymore…" Ciel mumbled, his trembling body slumping forward into my arms.

"Shhhh… I'm not going to hurt you… You're alright. You're safe now," I soothed, cradling the little beast in my arms and telling myself that this wasn't awkward at all.

"Even if you know that I'll tell Father Faustus what you _really_ are?" he muttered hesitantly, nose buried in the crook of my neck as I held him close, in an attempt to warm him up a bit as I pondered what to do. Well, not that much to ponder – I had to get us both out of there as soon as possible.

"It might surprise you, but that's how I got this 'wonderful' job in the first place," I replied in all honestly, but the boy was no longer listening to me. He'd eventually passed out from exhaustion, but I could feel that his pulse was steady and his breathing regular. Relieved that he wasn't in any danger, I made my way out of the hall in one single leap and then proceeded to follow the path I'd come on.

I encountered no other surprises on my way out, other than numerous putrid dog carcasses lying around in the upper tunnel, left behind by Faustus and Alois. And since the two of them had lost my trail anyway, after their job was done Faustus had conveniently decided that they should wait for my return (with or without Ciel and _if_ I returned) back at the car. _Very nice, really…_ But return I did, and with the petite investigator relatively alright, wrapped securely in my torn jacket.

"Stupid demon, where the hell are your clothes?" he mumbled groggily in his sleep as I laid him carefully onto the back seat.

 _Where are_ my _clothes?_ Of course…that was the question.


	7. Chapter 7

"It's just a burn," Faustus said calmly, adjusting his spectacles. "Dr. Tanaka assured me that he's going to be fine. He's just a bit shaken, that's all…"

I rolled my eyes and huffed, leaning back into the soft chair in front of his desk. "Just a burn, huh? Well it looks funny to me, that mark! I don't know what it means but it must mean something, don't you think? Those breeds clearly said that Ciel was very special to them – aren't you curious as to why they said that? Sure, he's one of your investigators and the redhead knows that now, and somehow they tracked him, but hell, he's just a boy! And they said I shouldn't feed on him, because he must be killed _properly_! What the hell does that mean?"

"Now, Sebastian, the breeds usually carry out these rituals meant to please – or appease – their master, which is ultimately the Devil, and sometimes they sacrifice children and young people in this purpose. That's what they meant about killing him _properly_ , and the mark is probably part of the ritual – it may mean something to them but it will not affect him in any way," he replied, pressing his fingers together, "Other than that, I can see no reason why they would consider him special – there really is nothing special about Ciel's blood lineage…"

 _About his blood lineage? And what exactly could be special about his blood lineage?_ I stared deeply into the golden eyes of the man in front of me and wondered just what kind of bullshit he was actually hiding, and how I could get it out of him, because there was clearly something fishy as fuck about the whole thing. Except, I had no idea how.

"Just tell me one thing, Father Faustus, are you collecting freaks here by any chance, is that what you do?" I questioned sternly, for lack of any better phrasing. "Because just before we left I met some weirdo called the Undertaker and he _knew_ what I am and he did something to me! Actually, he wanted to see the demon who is one with me, as if _he_ were a creature of wonder, or something!"

I paused briefly to assess the effect of my words, but I had been naïve to think there was going to be any. His unreadable calm made me feel ignorant, if not downright stupid and that really got on my nerves.

"Is that what you think demons are – wonderful creatures that you can tame and collect?! Is that why you hired me, and that lad Finny? Am I to be part of your fucked up collection of demons?" I didn't really know why that idea had suddenly popped into my mind, but the question left my lips without much thought.

"Sebastian! We don't say _that word_ here!" the priest almost shouted, his features suddenly hardened.

 _Uh… what?_ I blinked. Was this really his answer? Because if it was, it meant something was very wrong with this fellow. "'We don't say that word here'? Father, you are not running a fucking boarding school for little boys! Just how-"

"Please calm down," he said, his tone resuming its usual gentleness, "You've just been through a lot recently… and it appears that the Undertaker did cross the line this time, but I shall have a word with him about it. Don't worry, it won't happen again." Saying that he smiled, a light smile that held a secret warning for me to ask no more questions.

"Oh and Sebastian? Don't worry about Ciel, he doesn't remember _anything_ about you, alright? So don't bring it up"

* * *

_Well, good thing he doesn't remember, because I would probably never hear the end of it – that if he doesn't outright try to kill me, the little beast…_

After the rather fruitless talk with Faustus, which had only strengthened my belief that this man was either a lunatic or into some really strange things I was yet far from understanding, I went straight back to my apartment, carefully avoiding Bardroy. It was known that Bardroy was in the habit of bearing a deep grudge against people who broke, misplaced, misappropriated or otherwise fucked up his arsenal, and I had lost the expensive Remington 870 without firing a single shot with it… so yeah, he had every reason to hate me now.

As I entered the small apartment I was sharing with my investigator, I crossed paths with another strange individual I had never seen before – a tall, skinny blonde guy with a suspicious smile, who'd just walked out of Ciel's room and who – of course – knew who I was. Was there anyone around that fucking place who _didn't know_ who I was, very possibly even better than I did myself? Honestly, how obnoxious!

Through the slightly cracked door I could see Ciel sitting onto his bed, hugging his knees with an absent air, and I involuntarily stopped to observe him. Had he really had such a full blackout from the shock that he had retained no memories of the recent events? It would have been the best for everyone, but I rather doubted it. And that mark burned into his skin – that may have been just a burn, but it would be permanent. It would never heal. Which led me back to my previous question – why had they done it to him? Faustus' hypothesis didn't hold – Ciel really wasn't the type of angelic youth worth sacrificing or something, and the fuss that fellow Grell had made over him didn't add up either – they had no need to have him tracked down especially, when they could have very well taken any other boy.

"Hey! You alright over there?" I asked sort of awkwardly, popping my head inside, and expecting pretty much everything ranging from a burst of tears to a bullet to my head.

"I've been better," the investigator grumbled in reply, not lifting his gaze, "but I've also been worse, I guess…"

"Huh… so who was that guy?" I asked as casually as I could manage, doing my best to conceal my irritation in respect of the said individual, who had just graced me with his fucking superior know-it-all air. Not to mention, I'd always hated people who dressed fully in white and weren't even doctors!

Ciel snorted. "Ash Landers, Dr. Tanaka's assistant. He's also like a psycho-poo-poo of sorts, like… his job is to make sure nobody goes completely haywire around here or something…Anyway, he came to explain to me in some fucking medical terms what I've just been through, and what I'm supposed to feel right now, and how I should not feel guilty, or ashamed of what I'm feeling, or of what happened… and he talked continuously for about two hours, while I just sat here fantasizing about what it would be like to butthead him like… really hard"

 _Typical._ "Oh well, I'm sure he just wanted to help…" _Like, unaware of the danger he was in, poor idiot…_

"He also said that I was hallucinating when they brought me back here and talking some really strange gibberish," the boy went on, suddenly staring at me intently," about you turning into this fantastic demon with large black wings, sharp claws, fangs and bright pink eyes. And that couldn't be, since you were out on your day off, and it was Father Faustus who found me, unconscious…"

_My eyes were bright pink? Shit._

A few moments of uncomfortable silence passed between us, and I didn't say anything to make it better. Or worse. "You _are_ a breed, aren't you Sebastian? I can put together two and two… and they know that, all of them…" Ciel stated in a low voice, looking away again. Oh well…he did remember after all.

"Not _all of them_ … but like I said back there, that's why he's hired me in the first place," I replied with a shrug. "Anyway, Father Faustus asked me not to tell anyone about it, and that included you"

The petite investigator squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed his forehead with trembling hands, before his fingers tangled and weakly gripped the dark strands of hair."I don't… um… so, how does this work…? I mean…why are you doing this? Why… why are you here?" he stuttered.

 _Huh. Good question._ "Well, mainly because I don't really have a choice… but if you're asking why does Faustus want me here, then I don't know." And I stopped there, because there was hardly any point in sharing my doubts, or my whatever suspicions with this poor, shaken boy and confuse him even more than he already was. He couldn't help me.

"I…I don't know what to say…" Ciel snorted bitterly, chewing on his lip. "So you're like… a _good_ demon? Is that it?"

"There's no such thing as a good demon, we're all bad, just in different degrees I guess… and Father Faustus thinks I'm not that bad or something…"

"Uh...what?"

I plopped down onto the bed in front of him, fidgeting with my hands as if this was some sort of stupid and awkward job interview. "Look, a while ago, when I was younger, I kind of..." _sold my soul to the devil – fuck, just how stupid does that sound?_ "made a mistake and my soul ended up being...um...joined with a demon... so I am me, but I am also _him_. And because of that I have to feed on blood every night, but I'm not actually killing the people I feed on – I just knock them out and they don't remember anything afterwards..."

"Crystal clear... So, why did you not feed on me then? You had me in your grasp and no one was coming to save me," the boy asked dryly. "But then again, nothing new there... "

 _Because you're poisonous? Ha! "_ I never feed on someone who can't take it, and I don't want to hurt you," I said gently, reaching to brush a few strands off his pale forehead. "After all, you're so little…"

"You prick! I'm not _little_!" he snapped."And fuck it, I wish you hadn't seen me like that…"

"Like what?"

Ciel silently pointed towards the black eyepatch now concealing his right eye, as he sat up and pushed himself down the mattress until he was sitting right next to me. The boy's forehead rested tiredly against mine and he gently cupped the side of my face with a shy hand. Without any word, his lips ghosted the softest peck over mine. The investigator closed his eyes as his mouth continued to tease me, his parted lips deliciously shy and his breath already a little laboured.

"Um… Ciel, please don't do this," I suggested pulling away slightly, "I think… I think you should try to get some more rest now," I added and made a move to stand up from the bed, but the boy stopped me.

"W-wait, Sebastian… I'm sorry." _Whoa, did he just drop the S word? He must be more shaken than I thought..._ " I should have thought you're not up to… to _that_ …" he shrugged with a wry smile, looking away.

"No, that's not the point! The point is that you've just been through a lot, I've just told you that I am a breed, and now you're in shock and feel the need to do…things you wouldn't normally consider. This really isn't about me," I hurried to explain, aware that I probably sounded exactly like that assistant with a stick shoved up his ass.

Ciel scowled." So this is about me then? Oh, you think that I'm 'so little' that I can't handle myself, is that it?" _Heh, definitely struck a nerve with that one…_

 _I rolled my eyes. "_ Well duh! I just told you that I am demon, but you have no idea what that means, do you? Hell, I'm up for sex just like I'm up for food, and guess what - it means just as much to me! I've never been in a relationship when I was human and now fuck – demons don't _do_ _relationships_! I am emotionless and commitment-phobic and I enjoy it, so consider yourself warned!" I pointed.

"Tch! Sebastian…fuck this talk about relationships and stuff, yeah? All I want is a brief moment when in which to stop feeling like utter shit, okay?" the investigator murmured softly, and he leaned forward, placing another teasing peck on my lips.

 _Oh well…who am I to refuse such a treat?_ I licked his plump lower lip briefly before my tongue began exploring his mouth thoroughly, finding his own muscle and coaxing it to play, while I pushed him back against the headboard. My hands rubbed his shoulders gently before sliding down onto his body over his light shirt.

"Mmmm…ahhh," a deep moan escaped the boy as my mouth eventually left his for his throat. The pulse beneath that silky soft skin was beyond enticing, but I decided that I could hold back my hunger until later, when I was going out to 'dinner'… His heartbeat fastened as he panted under my touch, and his own fingers blindly found the hem of my shirt and slipped underneath.

"Are you sure… that you're sure about this? Because I'm going to eat you whole," I warned him, being rewarded with a lopsided smirk as Ciel looked at me with a half-lidded eye. "Eat me whole then…" he agreed, breath hitching just a little bit, and I couldn't but oblige such a charming request, carefully creeping onto his small form.

I brought our mouths together a bit more forcefully this time, breathing in his soft moans, and I felt the covers being pulled protectively over my shoulders almost in the same time as the lamp on the nightstand was promptly switched off. Oh yes, he was shy like that… and I had to bury my face into the crook of his neck to suppress a not very polite but sincerely amused snicker.

Ciel's inexperienced fingers worked as fast as they could to rid me of my shirt and toss it out of the bed, and then began tracing every contour of my exposed torso with the kind of awed nervousness that was almost palpable. While I could fully understand his desire for curious exploration, I felt more of a pungent need of taking things a bit further, so I made a swift job of removing his own shirt, sweatpants, socks and eyepatch, so that in almost no time he was bare beneath me.

My mouth, which had never left his in all this time, made its way once more down to his pulse point, as I nipped and teased the sensitive area. But I did not linger too much in that particular spot, eager as I was to taste the lusciousness of his body entirely. His milky, flawless white skin was incredibly soft under my lips like a delicate petal, much too fine and exquisite - I concluded – to try one's fangs on. I only employed my teeth to graze over one pert nipple, right before my tongue twirled around it slowly, eliciting the most sensual of moans from my prey. My fingers slipped beneath him and traced every bump of his spine, making Ciel arch his body further into my mouth.

"A-ahhhhhh…" the boy gasped as I pushed myself further down and my tongue slipped inside his navel, teasing the miniscule crevice. "S-Sebastian… ah I can't… this is too good…" Ciel panted helplessly, gripping the sheets.

_Too good? Well, that's new…_

As tension was gradually building up into my own body, I advanced even lower with my ministrations and brought my hands down to rub my thumbs teasingly onto his hipbones, before my mouth closed onto one of them completely. "Mmmhhh… just… d-do something…it….ah- hurts…" the investigator begged in a cracked voice as I mercilessly tortured the delicate bone by licking and sucking on it painfully slow. "P-please…"

I gently pushed his knees apart, revealing his currently neglected but already fully erect member, and I pressed a soft, almost chaste kiss onto the moist tip. My tongue teased it playfully as I licked around from top to base, then grazed my teeth over the tip once more before taking into my mouth entirely. Beneath me, Ciel was a moaning mess, instinctively bucking his hips upwards as his most vulnerable part was prey to _my sharpest_ part.

"Nghhhh…aa-ahhh… Seb…astian, I'm going to… to- ahhhhh…" he warned shyly, arching his back as much as it would go when I eventually sucked him dry, drinking in all that his body could offer.

I climbed back on top of him, licking my lips as he dropped back onto the pillows in the afterglow of his orgasm, still panting softly with his eyes closed and his face adorned by the most delicious blush. "We're not done yet, love…" I murmured against his lower lip, swollen from all the biting he'd done to it, while I shuffled out of my jeans and boxers and kicked them off completely. One sapphire orb focused upon me mischievously as the boy pulled me in for a kiss, literally begging me to devour his sweet little mouth, and I gave in for the moment, grinding our hips together for some much welcomed friction.

"Suck, love…" I instructed, pulling back and bringing three of my fingers to his lips, and Ciel gulped almost inconspicuously before obediently and generously coating them with saliva. I claimed his mouth once more, working my tongue to partially distract his attention as I inserted first one finger, and then another, searching for the sweet spot that would make him see stars. _Ah, found!_ I told myself as his body jolted suddenly, hips bucking into mine and begging for more. Deeming it sufficient preparation, I reached down and grabbed the back of his thighs, spreading them as far as I could and nudging Ciel to wrap his legs around my waist, and pushed myself in balls deep with one powerful thrust.

"AHHH! Fuuuuuuck, Sebastian!" the boy almost screamed, squeezing his eyes shut in obvious pain, while his fingernails dug viciously into my biceps.

"Shhhhhh, it's alright love… It hurts a bit now but it will pass… You'll feel better soon…" I soothed, remaining perfectly still, buried into the hot delicious tightness that was his body, and planting butterfly kisses all over his flushed cheeks, now wet with a mixture of sweat and tears.

"I'm…I'm fine now…" Ciel whispered, a few moments later, somewhat loosening his grip on my arms. "M-move…" I promptly fulfilled his wish, in the same time cautiously reminding myself that I could not, in any moment, lose restraint completely with him. I gradually increased the speed of my thrusts as growing pleasure began to build in my lower abdomen. "H-ah, faster… Seb…Sebastian, faster and h-…harder!" the boy moaned beneath me, instinctively adjusting the angle of his hips as I worked him.

"Fuck you're… hmphhh… so good, so tight…you little… little beast," I whispered licking the shell of his ear as the softest, most delicious moans escaped Ciel's lips.

"Yeah, right … right there… ahahhh, yes! Ah, Sebastian, ahhh…YES!" he all but shouted my name as his peak hit him, his whole body clenching around me, including those wonderfully tight muscles, and it did not take longer from there to send me over the edge as well, so unexpectedly powerful that I had to bite my pleasure into the back of my balled fist.

* * *

For a while after I simply lay there, catching my breath onto the soft, damp chest of my petite investigator, pondering on what I'd just experienced, because truth be told, it had been quite the experience, namely it had been the first time I'd felt no burning need to feed right after… that was very strange, at any rate.

As much as I enjoyed the 'cuddling after', I decided –despite my extreme lazy ass-ness - that I couldn't leave us in the… aftermath of it all, such that a shower would have been welcome. "I'm afraid we made a bit of a mess of ourselves, I'll get us cleaned up now," I said and tossed the covers aside, lifting Ciel's small, exhausted body into my arms.

"Mmmmnooo…" he grunted in protest sleepily, "there's no need, please don't-"

"Don't worry, I won't switch the lights on," I reassured him, once more failing to mention that his 'precaution' was really unnecessary as far as I was concerned, but well, if it made him feel better…I pondered as I carried us both into the bathroom and turned on the shower. I placed the boy carefully onto his own feet and reached for the soap, busying myself with it and leaving my investigator to his own devices. Bad idea.

Ciel turned around groping in the dark and bumped face first into my chest, the soap I'd lathered myself with getting into his eye. "Oww, fuck! I can't see a thing, God damn it!" he cursed, rubbing it vigorously under the warm jet.

"And whose fault is that, hmm?" I put back the soap and held him up with one arm, gently brushing the wet hair out of his face. "Here, let me take care of you before you hurt yourself or something, Heaven forbid…" I chuckled, while the petite investigator wrapped his legs around my waist for better support.

"Sebastian, silence is a virtue," Ciel said as dryly as he could muster under the circumstances, "now shut up and kiss me!" His soft lips found my mouth and he placed a small inviting peck, silently asking for more 'attention' while adjusting his hips as well.

"Yes, and _pointless teasing_ is a sin," I replied pulling back and momentarily denying him what he craved, "that might just get you fucked senseless against the wall if you don't stop anytime soon…"

"D-don't say it like that…" he muttered, burying his face in the crook of my neck, and this time I couldn't help a chuckle, his sudden shyness was just too adorable…

"Like what… using _that_ word you utter in almost every sentence?"

"Fuck! That's not true!"


	8. Chapter 8

" _WOULD YOU JUST FUCK OFF OF MY ROOM ALREADY!?_ "

 _Ah, nothing like the morning after!_ The thundering scream shattered the pleasant, peaceful silence which had enveloped me until a moment before, and I half jumped groggily from under the covers, knocking off my alarm clock from the nightstand in the process. As it soon became obvious, Ciel was throwing a tantrum and I once more congratulated myself for the decision of sticking to my own schedule – late night 'dinner', followed by a refreshing sleep in _my_ bed, even if I'd promised to stay with him. I'd been off the moment he'd fallen asleep, and a good idea it had been, because his bedroom turned out to be not so private after all, since someone had just intruded, and so early in the morning too. And that someone was now getting it.

Reluctantly, I dragged myself out of bed to see what the fuss was about, and not doubting for a second that I was going to get my share of it if I interfered. And even if I didn't.

"This is _my_ fucking room, Elizabeth! You can't just barge in here whenever the fuck you like! What the hell do you think this is, huh!?" the petite investigator shouted, sheets wrapped hurriedly around his nude form, while the blonde just stood there flustered, all red in the face and with an angry expression.

"I'm not going anywhere until you explain to me why you are _naked_!" she shrieked, "Have you no shame? Who was here with you, Ciel? Answer me! You will answer me or I'll tell Father Faustus that you've brought someone in here!"

"Have _I_ no shame!? Fuck, that's a good one! Am _I_ by any chance the one barging into unsuspecting people's bedrooms and pulling off their covers?" He rolled his eyes exasperated, with a huff. "And how many times do I have to tell you?! Ash brought me some pills, and then I had a shower before bed and that was it! Not that it would be any of your damn business if I did bring someone to my room! But there was _no one_! There, ask Sebastian!"

And there I was, standing in the doorway, with as conciliatory an expression as I could muster on my roughly awakened face. "Nope, there was no one but me here last night, honestly," I assured her, looking surprised at the very insinuation, and Ciel rolled his eyes again at my admittance of the truth, not that Lizzy was anywhere close of suspecting what had actually occurred. What she might have suspected, however, was that if Ciel had brought someone for the night I was probably lying for him. Fortunately, the blonde appeared satisfied for the moment, although 'satisfied' might not have been the right word, as the door of our small two-room apartment was forcefully slammed in her wake less than a minute later.

I blinked, still sleepy, in the heavy silence after Lizzy's stormy exit, feeling the beginning of a migraine developing slowly but surely in some obscure part of my skull.

"Just what the fuck was _that_? She's not my fucking girlfriend or anything! And it's eight o'clock on a fucking day off!" Ciel shouted, still irritated. "Who the fuck does she think she is?! Pervert – 'checking out what I was wearing', my ass!"

"Oh, please! Of course she wanted to peek, she thinks you're cute. Didn't you know that? And she thinks you're really mature too…" I couldn't help it, because his face was priceless like that.

"Ahahahaha! This is so funny, I'm laughing my ass out. You moron! And where the fuck were you off to so rapidly last night?" he replied, an eyebrow shooting up in suspicion.

 _Ughhhh, we're not having this conversation, are we? "_ Ciel, like I said-"

"Right, you don't _do_ _relationships_ , so you don't do explaining either, I get it…" the boy grumbled petulantly, before I could finish my idea, and dropped back onto the pillows, pulling the covers over his head.

I rolled my eyes. _"_ Like I said, I need to feed every night! And, like I also said, I won't feed on you because _you are so little_ (oh yes, I just had to emphasize that, too good to be left out), but I've still got to feed on someone. This is how it works, okay?"

"Fuck you, I'm not _little_!"

* * *

Somehow I realised that I was bothering too much all of a sudden with Ciel's lack of understanding for my need to feed. With his lack of understanding what my true nature really was – he didn't get it at all. But then, how could he? How could any man, for that matter? _For_ _my skin was burned with the light of a thousand suns and my wings have batted against a thousand winds… My claws have scraped all dry sand and all moist earth, my tongue has delved into salty oceans and sweet ponds, never drawing out one drop to quench the thirst which is my plague…_ _yet my thirst has endured and my pain has remained unsoothed…_ No, how could he ever know what that was like, all that suffering? What it was like to be me…? No one knew, and no one understood.

I rubbed my forehead, focusing on changing my clothes. What the hell was I thinking? My problem was finding out what Faustus really wanted with me, and Ciel wasn't the key to it. He couldn't help me. I had to see that Undertaker fellow again, but was he going to talk to me? I shouldn't have mentioned _that_ episode to the priest, it had been a mistake.

I found the strange monk late that evening lurking in the so called 'basement laboratory'. There was another level below the offices, infirmary and the living quarters, and it was almost entirely occupied with this obscure area of unknown purpose, although I guessed it must have been for some sort of research carried out there. I really hoped they didn't actually have a morgue in there… The otherwise vast space, had it not been cramped with tables and cabinets of all sorts, was barely illuminated by some dim bulbs, and the air was dry, almost suffocating. I strolled through with light steps, pausing to look at various objects, partly because I had no intention of startling the man, and partly in an attempt to calm my irritation at the fact that once more I'd barged in head first, without any planned approach to the problem.

Now that was especially frustrating. As a student I'd always been a bookworm and that had worked just fine, I'd accumulated a great deal of knowledge, but even to that day I still sucked when it came to people – well, my new _status_ provided me with enough charm to keep me fed and occasionally 'entertained', but that was about it. If Paquar-Rah had a certain unquestionable amount of fascination about him, he was also completely self-absorbed, having brooded over nothing but his own problems for a few thousands of years, and people were truly the last thing he cared about. And so it was clear that my whatever charm wasn't going to work with Faustus – who was a priest, or with the Undertaker – a weird monk apparently fonder of the dead than of the living. Just my luck.

What my demon self did have though was a rather great deal of destructive power, and he was anything but subtle once he got mad. Once _I_ got mad. But I had a clearer mind than to delude myself with any of that – after all I still had doubts as to the actual depth of that power, or as to the consequences of putting it to use, not to mention as to my ability to fully control it. And even if I'd been entirely clear and confident on those things, there was no guarantee that what I possessed was unique or invincible, the truth was that I had no idea what I was up against.

So I walked carefully, glancing casually at boxes, cages and jars with dubious contents, mentally making a note to not stir the shit too much, if possible. And then there was the Undertaker – just where Alois had indicated – my nose ascertained his presence before anything else. There was a scent of death about the man, vague but awfully present, which perhaps only someone with a sense of smell as keen as mine could have perceived. It unsettled me.

"I knew you would come," he croaked, startling, even before his black shrouded frame came into view.

I cleared my throat, uncomfortable, because once more I was feeling on the outside of things and it drove me up the wall. "Why? Why would you think I'd come? If I recall correctly, meeting you turned out to be a rather unpleasant experience last time"

"Yet… I saved your life," the monk replied quickly, as if he'd been waiting to say that all along, not in the slightest taken aback by the hostile tone of my voice."I know you feel something, even though it's not gratitude, _crow demon_ … but maybe it is a sense of accomplishment, now that I've…returned _you_ to _yourself,_ now that you know who you really are…"

Indeed, his choice of words couldn't have been any more unfortunate than that. I may have felt in many ways, but 'accomplished' was definitely not one of them. Yet obviously the flaw in his logic derived from his own craving – and what he craved for was _power_. Yet just like everyone else he too did not understand what it meant to be _me_ at all. There was a price to pay and he ignored it, despite the fact that he knew about my thirst. However, that bit of information probably held no meaning to him, because that's all it was, a dry fact.

And there I was, again caught in my own doom and gloom, and losing sight of what was important. I inwardly slapped myself back into focus. "Maybe… "I agreed casually, "but why would you care of the feelings of one such as myself? So I wonder, what's in it for you?"

"There is nothing. All I do is mend the dead, but they are beyond mending, aren't they?" he chuckled. "Such is my fate. And it may prove just as useless to try to shed any light onto that which is sunken in darkness, but I will still try if given the chance…"

Well, if that was the case, his bullshit talking in riddles didn't help at all and I promptly told him so. "So I don't really know why you've bothered saving me. I am no bringer of light, if this is what this is about… you should know that much"

I heard him sigh, more like a sharp intake of breath, but his scarred, shadowed face with unseen eyes betrayed nothing and his body remained perfectly still. "The crow demon seeks his vengeance for having been awoken from his slumber," he said." For before he was molded into one with you, he'd been sleeping for a long while, and he'd almost found his peace. That's why you are here, to find whoever it was that did this to you. Am I right?"

That was true, but still…

"There are some things you should know, and there are some things the one-eyed boy should know, but alas… of them I cannot speak. You'll have to find them out from elsewhere," he went on, with the same monotonous drawl.

So I had been right – the priest had taken precautions that nothing I should have known would transpire. And what did Ciel have to do with anything? Unless the breeds were right and there was something special about him after all. Maybe he was a 'closeted' demon too, hell, that wouldn't have surprised me one bit!

"And why is that?" I still questioned sternly, taking a few steps forward. "Because such are your master's orders?!" And before I realised I should have kept my temper in check, my hands had grabbed the front of his robes and I slammed his back into the wall quite forcefully. "Speak!"

But the monk only chuckled at my display of wrath, tilting his head backwards to expose his bare throat. And there it was – a new scar, quite similar to the one marring his face across, one with the same jagged pattern, except one could see it was fresh, the skin barely healed enough not to look entirely gruesome. My hands instantly dropped to my sides at the sight of it, releasing the repulsive body, and I stepped back.

"Who the hell did this?" I wondered out loud and in utter puzzlement, because honestly I could not imagine the meek Father Faustus do anything even remotely close to the horror I had just seen. And then there had been that incident with Alois, hiding beneath a mass table, desperately clutching a knife in his hand – and he was sick, or wounded, or… who knew? Faustus knew, I suspected.

There must have been _someone else_ lurking about, it suddenly occurred to me, and everyone in the NUIT were nothing more than puppets moved around with strings worked by skillful fingers. That someone had told Faustus where to find me (and, most likely, Finny too). That someone had hurt the poor choir boy. And the same _someone_ had now added a new scar to the Undertaker's collection.

"So eager and rash, aren't you, Sebastian Michaelis? All you want to know is 'who'….but you don't even know _what_ this is," the Undertaker interrupted my inner musings, again drawing my attention to the horrid mark on his neck. "It is precisely a curse preventing me from disclosing certain information. That's why I cannot tell you any of the things you so desire to find out… but there is a way. You will have to ask the one-eyed boy"

 _Right, because that would go over so smoothly!_ "Ask him what? He doesn't know anything!" Of course, I had no certainty as to this fact, but I thought it safe to assume it for now. Besides, Ciel must have been still shaken from everything he'd been through very recently. So what the hell was I supposed to ask him exactly?

"If he doesn't know himself, then he'll have to ask someone in turn, I suppose," the monk replied serenely.

I let out a heavy breath, feeling the migraine from earlier making an unexpected return (and I wasn't even supposed to have migraines in the first place…). "Look, he's just a boy, for fuck's sake! What the hell do you all want from him?"

The Undertaker sighed and brought his hands together thoughtfully, the long black nails disappearing inside the large sleeves. "This is his fate," he said." And one's fate is upon them from the very birth, no need to be all grown up for that. And things may seem without hope for now, but I'm thinking to myself… well… that maybe one can learn a great deal from their confessor"

_All bullshit, followed by some more bullshit!_

"Look, I get it, yeah? You won't talk to me, for whatever reason… So I'll just…" I shrugged, shaking my head, and walked away, having no actual idea as to what I would just do.

* * *

The small apartment was sunken in darkness as I returned. The investigator had decided to use the days off for catching up with some overdue school projects, and had apparently worked through the day, but fatigue had finally caught up with him and he was now fast asleep.

I slipped soundlessly into his room, just to watch the small form curled up in a tight ball under the sheets, snoring softly. Again, why was I worrying so much about him? Maybe because my worst fears (and yes, this had been one of my most serious fears ever since the last encounter with that Grell fellow) had come true – he _was_ the key to what was going on. Yet Faustus – although he was probably lying – had said there was nothing special about him, in particular about his _blood lineage_. But in saying so he had leaked the possibly important piece of information that he'd investigated the subject. And it made sense, since both Ciel's parents had been members of NUIT.

 _So… there might be something about his blood…_ I pondered, struggling to remember if there was anything particular about the taste of it from the one time I had tasted it. Except, at that time I hadn't been fully _awoken_. My fingers crept over the boy and pulled back the covers a bit, exposing more of his nape, as I breathed in his scent.

It was a rich aroma, mouthwatering even, but that was natural – he was young, healthy and fairly attractive. But apart from that I could distinguish nothing more. Perhaps the scent alone was insufficient, I needed one more taste, but…

_No, that cannot be! I will not prey on this boy!_

I pulled myself away from the bed and from the all too enticing sight, deciding I had to feed before I would take any more steps towards my goal.


	9. Chapter 9

I had fed in an uncharacteristic rush – for I was usually taking my time with it – and unable to enjoy my meal. Unsatisfied by the blood serving, I had delved and indulged next into my all time passion for junk food, in a rather futile attempt to sate my hunger. But the real problem was – for once in a very long time I was unable to focus on my food, and no amount of fish and chips could take my mind off the incessant stream of thoughts currently plaguing me.

My earlier talk with the Undertaker had only raised more questions and had answered none. I still didn't know who was behind everything that was going on, but clearly the respective person was rather able. I felt as if entangled in a spider's web from which I could not free myself, and all I could do was to sit and wait helplessly for the spider to come feed on me like it was feeding on everyone else.

 _Feeding…_ Now that was an interesting thought. Or maybe I was just blowing things out of proportion for my excited mind's sake to keep itself entertained with some obscure drama. In truth, I was tired and worried - if not slightly scared – by the idea that sooner or later I would have to break the subject with none other than my 'wonderful' investigator. That was going to be bad! I mean, at best Ciel wasn't going to take me seriously, and at worst he would get mad and probably tell Faustus either that I'd been poking my nose where it didn't belong, or that I was slightly paranoid. Either way, not good. Not to mention, they had a rather close relationship, from what I'd gathered so far, since the priest had grown on the boy after the untimely death of his parents. Ciel clearly didn't see how Faustus was deliberately putting his life in danger, I was quite convinced that not even after the recent events involving that weirdo redhead breed and his 'friends' - who would have undoubtedly killed him had I not made in time - he still did not question the sanity of this whole thing.

Of course, I didn't care about it per say – and that was my luxury as a demon – the lack of empathy made everything, or should have at any rate made everything so much easier. I should have simply pursued my purposes, without caring who got hurt – or killed – in the process, but… whether it was the few bits of conscience still attached to my human side or the keen sense of precaution I'd developed ever since my transformation, I couldn't but pay a great deal of attention to each and every aspect of things.

_And of course, there's always the desire of man to accomplish that which has never been accomplished before, to conquer that which has never been conquered, to defeat that which has never been defeated ever before._

That was something known, something which the demons usually speculated in their pursuit for souls, or for blood, or whatever they fed on, and it was something that I had to take into account. Maybe it was the thing Faustus was counting on when selecting his staff – they were, almost all of them, very young and excessively enthusiastic, and there was always a degree of recklessness about young people who got involved in such things. And they may or may not have done it for the faith, it was more the danger that drew them in, lured them unstoppably, like the wicked light of the candle draws the fragile, ephemeral butterflies towards their death.

Sighing, I pulled the set of numerous keys out of my pocket and let myself in, expecting pretty much whatever these days. The church was even darker than usual, and I advanced carefully, almost on my tiptoes, a sudden unsettling feeling creeping over me. And my instincts were proven right once more – there it was again, the warm scent of blood. The same fresh and rich aroma filled my nostrils, the same as the first time I'd encountered it, but all it stirred inside me now however was a feeling of faint nausea, as if it were tainted by something… indefinite. Though, how could someone's blood be tainted like that, was clearly beyond me.

My body instinctively went stiff, and it briefly crossed my mind that I should have fled, maybe, yet I forced my legs forward, each painful step at a time. Did I really want to know what was going on, now in the crude face of the very thing? Yes. I had to.

"No more… please… no more…" a whispered begging reached my ears and I flinched, stopping dead in my tracks. _It_ was right there, whatever the hell _it_ was, undoubtedly with Alois, for it was his blood I'd smelled. The sound had come from one of the confessionals in the back, and I crept closer, my fists clenched at my sides in a mixture of anguish and fury.

Fury was good, I told myself – whenever I grew angry I also became more powerful. And my human side might have still known fear, but the crow demon did not. All he knew was ravishing fury.

"You owe this to me! You would have been lying dead in some gutter long ago if I hadn't brought you here, you would do well to remember that!"

It was more of a growl than a voice which had just spoken, something clearly not human. My first impulse was to focus on what _that voice_ had sounded like, before my mind actually got to work and processed what the voice was saying. And who had brought Alois to NUIT? Obviously, Father Faustus. Except… I could have picked up the tone of his voice anywhere, and _that_ wasn't it. It wasn't him speaking to the choir boy, and still my irritation with the man suddenly increased tenfold. Because he knew, he must have known.

"I know but…it hurts so badly…" The boy's voice was now even fainter, constricted between what sounded like failed attempts at proper breathing.

 _Fuck this already!_ I suddenly decided, my arm shooting forward, and I very nearly ripped the wooden, decorated door off in one pull, determined to face my enemy once and for all and to take him on. But then something like a black cloud of smoke swept over me, like a foul, poisonous breath, and I was forcefully thrown backwards, my head colliding painfully with the stone tiles. There I lay for a short while, dizzy and feeling sick all over again, struggling with the distinctive feeling of having been dealt a heavy blow in the stomach.

Once I fully came back to my senses, I found that the pain only annoyed me further, and chagrin overwhelmed me at the thought that whatever the fuck _that_ was, it had escaped me again. Once more, I had been thwarted in my attempt at discovering things and pointless to say it pissed me to no end.

"Ah, fuck!" I groaned, eventually hauling myself up to see Alois crouched rather awkwardly into the back of that narrow cabin, white as a sheet and with empty eyes widened in horror. He was barely breathing, just as I'd anticipated, and each breath he did take was laboured, as if it were an endless torment.

"Who was that? _WHO_?" I shouted, lunging forward and hurling the boy upwards. My ever growing frustration caused me to shake him rather brutally, but not a word left his pale lips as he continued to stare blankly somewhere past my shoulder. And just as I was so questioning, the Undertaker's words came to my mind. _So eager and rash, aren't you, Sebastian Michaelis? All you want to know is 'who'….but you don't even know_ what _this is…_

So I searched the boy's skin as much as the white robes would allow me, his wrists, forearms, his neck too, but there wasn't a single mark, a single bruise onto his flesh, no proof of that evil presence that had been there with him merely moments before. To sum it up, no progress in that department either.

There was no point in repeating the question though, because Alois' body went limp in my arms as he eventually fainted, and I was left with no choice but to carry him away to 's infirmary as soon as possible.

The whole thing had puzzled and horrified me at the same time, but at least – I reasoned with myself as I went down the dark row of treacherous stairs towards the base – I had found out that whatever _it_ was, it was afraid of me. It had fled in a hurry at my approach. And I supposed it was a good thing, sort of.

* * *

"I just found him like this upstairs, out cold," I lied nonchalantly, and Dr. Tanaka just shook his head and sighed. What else could I have told him? There was no way of telling the truth, since I had no idea what the truth actually was. "He must have been working late again, I suppose"

"Indeed… all the signs point towards sheer exhaustion. Youths these days, they don't eat well, they won't eat the right things and then there's this job… it's too much for someone that young…" the doctor trailed off, clearing his throat. "He needs to rest for now, I'll keep an eye on him until morning. Maybe then he'll be able to tell me what happened exactly, if he experienced any pain or discomfort… At any rate, thank you for bringing him here, Mr. Michaelis"

* * *

I scrubbed a hand over my face, groaning in frustration at the computer screen before me. There was nothing in the NUIT archives about any demon or anything of the kind that manifested itself in the form of a 'breath', or a gale of wind or anything similar. _Great!_

"So why don't you ask your inner demon about it?" Ciel suggested, half sarcastically, after questioning me on my current predicament from the other side of the table, where he was leafing through some files.

"He doesn't seem to know. You see, Paquar-Rah doesn't really care about other demons. All he cares about is his thirst and his overall general state of discontent, which has always caused him to wander about, constantly PMS-ing." _Just like you_ , I was about to add, but refrained at the last moment. For I could tell there was a certain tension floating in the air, and this was only the calm before the storm. The previous day we had pretty much avoided each other, caught as we both had been with personal projects, but now we were face to face again, after, well, _that thing_ …

For some reason I didn't bother figuring out just yet, Ciel was pissed. That much was obvious, and there was only a matter of time before it would all blow in my face. _Oh well… bring it on_ I mentally prepared myself for the verbal onslaught.

"Sebastian… last night I woke up and went to the kitchen to get myself a glass of water…"

"And?" Or maybe I shouldn't have said that.

"And there you were, holding _Alois_ in your arms!"

Oh… so that was it. Or better said, there was it, in the almost inconspicuous gritting of teeth, in the disdainful way in which he'd spat the other boy's name. _Oh my, could he really be… a bit jealous maybe?_

Obviously, I could always have served him a perky or even hurtful answer, just for the sake of seeing what face he would have made, but instead I struggled for an answer that would exploit the opportunity to break the more important subject with him. But of course, me taking my time only stepped onto his nerves further, as he must have suspected that I was cooking up some lie.

"Um… it's complicated. But it's not what you think." _Really? Just how stupid was that line?_

The investigator's thin eyebrow shot up in surprise, as if he'd expected anything but that. "Yeah?" he said, crossing his arms and leaning back into his chair. "I thought you 'don't do relationships', and that you're 'not into blondes'! So how is this complicated then?"

I briefly pinched the bridge of my nose, irritated by my own inability to say things right. "Look, it's not complicated as to why I was carrying him in my arms. He was sick, okay? I took him to see Dr. Tanaka, and that's something you can check if you don't believe me. What's complicated is why he was sick, I don't know how to tell you this, but…"

Ciel frowned suddenly, as if upon the realization of something, and he let it out quite straightforwardly. "He was sick because you fed on him, didn't you? Oh well, I suppose he's brought this upon himself for being a slut, eh?" he pointed, and then let out a bitter snort at his own words.

"Ciel, I want you to tell me what happened the night your parents were killed," I asked bluntly, instead of any further explanation. It was a tough thing to do, but at least it may have shed some light on what had happened the night before. I needed to know if there was any connection between those events and that.

The boy stared at me intently, adeptly concealing his own emotions and trying to decipher my thoughts instead. "Why? I thought Lizzy already filled you up on things"

"All I know is that some breeds attacked your base, and killed nearly everyone. I want to know how they looked like, and whether any of them said anything…"

The investigator took a deep breath, averting his gaze, and frowned again. "I had just drifted off to sleep when it happened…and I didn't even know what the hell was happening in the first place, I just managed to get myself out of bed and I crawled into a narrow space between a wall and some heavy furniture, so all they were able to do when they sniffed me out was to claw at my face. That's how I got my right eye all fucked up like that"

"So you never got a good glimpse of them?"

"They were some low type of breeds – that's when I first smelled that putrid stench they always have, just like those fucking dogs, and I didn't see them well, no. Just some big black shapes, with large and very sharp claws. That's all I can tell you"

I let out a soft sigh at the disappointing news - that bit of information wasn't helpful in the least. "I see…"

In reply, Ciel stood abruptly and slammed his palms flat on the small (and, as it turned out rather precarious) table between us, causing the already damaged laptop to drift dangerously, until it almost slipped into my lap. "What I _don't see_ is how all this bullshit has anything to do with you feeding on Alois, or what the hell it was that you did to him last night!" he shouted, and I rapidly threw a glance around to see if anyone had heard what he'd so recklessly blurted out just then.

"Ciel, I didn't do anything to him, okay?" I replied, careful to keep my own temper in check. "Something must have attacked him, I found him half dead in one of the confessionals when I came back last night, but there was no sign of injury on him and he just sat there dumbstruck and he wouldn't say a single word! I took him to Dr. Tanaka, but all he could say was that he was probably suffering from exhaustion. But the fuck, he didn't look _exhausted_ to me!"

The petite investigator dropped back in his chair with a tired air and folded his arms again, looking away from me. He was still brooding, unsatisfied by my explanation.

"Look, if I had bitten him Dr. Tanaka would have discovered it right away. And I'm officially not allowed to feed on anyone within the NUIT, so I wouldn't have taken my chances with him, don't you think? Not when I can find plenty of prey out there and Father Faustus has no objection to it!"

"So what are you saying, Sebastian? That someone, or _something_ attacked him? Is that why you're asking me all this nonsense?" he asked in reply, irritation seeping from his tone. Probably because Faustus had assured him that this place was so secure that it was impossible for any harm to come to anyone within these walls. _Pffft!_

"Tch, fine!" the boy huffed and shook his head. "Let's go and see Alois. I want to see what he has to say about this. Maybe he'd just smoked something funny, has it ever occurred to you?"

* * *

Alois had left the infirmary sometimes during the morning, Dr. Tanaka informed us, but there was no reason for concern – he'd recovered fully after a good night's sleep and a few vitamin supplements. Ciel blatantly rolled his eyes at the doctor's comment that he should too take better care of himself, since he looked rather pale and the emotional shock of what he'd recently been through had not yet entirely worn off. He should have rested some more in bed, the doctor insisted, and that's when Ciel, probably also sensing the proximity of Tanaka's obnoxious assistant, had thanked him dryly and darted out through the open door at top speed.

"Hell, I'm not going into his room!" the investigator stated grumpily, after the blonde had turned out not to be upstairs in the church either.

"No need, he's not here," I replied dutifully, "I can't pick up his scent inside, he must be off somewhere…"

"Yeah, off to get himself some more weed…"

Ignoring Ciel's malicious comment, I focused instead on picking up a trail of the choir boy's scent. It was but faint, as mostly (and that was fairly odd if you asked me) I could smell Faustus around the blonde's room, yet worth a shot. "Come this way," I said.

* * *

"That's just fucking ridiculous, this is the library! Alois would never come here," my partner from Hell grumbled ill-humored, after I'd dragged him all the way there, but I barely heard his complaint, making my way inside in a haste, because I suddenly had a very bad feeling about this.

I walked briskly through the rows of neatly arranged shelves, confused by this seemingly vast place I'd never been before, and for some reason finding it even more sinister than the Undertaker's laboratory. There were very few lights about, probably in the purpose of keeping old tomes from damage and the air was dry and stale. But I could still pick it – his distinctive scent, again mingled with blood. _No, no, not again!_ I mentally begged, because I was in no mood of meeting _that thing_ again, and especially not when Ciel was with me. He was precious, and I had to protect him at any costs if I wanted to ever get to the bottom of things.

"S-Sebastian…" Ciel - who had impatiently trotted ahead of me - suddenly stammered, in a choked voice, glancing at something I could not yet see. I moved just in time to catch his unsteady frame in my arms as he desperately pressed both his hands over his mouth. There, between two rows of shelves, lay a small crumpled form in a pool of blood shining wickedly under the dim bulbs.


	10. Chapter 10

Curled up uncomfortably onto the office chair, Ciel was chewing nervously on his nails, completely ignoring the food in front of him. He looked tense enough to make me uncomfortable in turn and I swore inwardly, knowing it had been such an incredibly stupid idea to get him involved in the first place. Alright, admittedly I had no choice in the matter, since he had turned out to be the only key to all the answers I was seeking, but still…

"So, why did we do this again, Sebastian? First you say there's some funny shit going on with Alois, then we go find him like… like that… By the way, is he still alive or that doesn't really matter? Because right after finding him lying in a pool of his own fucking blood you go and say 'leave him there'! Just what the fuck was that about, exactly?"

"Look, it's bad enough that we asked Tanaka about him earlier, now straighten up and eat your food before someone realizes that wasn't the real reason we left the office," I said, popping in another chip and focusing on the laptop screen, "Don't worry, I can tell he was still alive when we found him, and we started the alarm, so he must have been found by now and taken care of. But it is crucial that no one finds out it was us who found him!"

"Why the hell not? What exactly is that _we_ have to hide? What the fuck have _you_ got to hide, huh?"

I breathed out a sigh, taking in the boy's worn countenance. What the hell was I doing? He was still very, very young and all this was probably too much for him. Sooner or later, he would crack.

"You know, Ciel, when I first met him the Undertaker said a very wise thing about all this – _this_ is a war which you can't win. You've been around for what, two years now? And that's only because you're an investigator, probably. But you've already lost one eye, your parents are dead, and soon enough you will be dead too. Hell, it's not at all unlikely that I will be, too. And why is that?"

"Wha-…what do you mean?" He was even paler now, and his hands fell limp to his sides as he stared blankly at the tips of his boots.

"I mean how unreasonable it is to send only two people in a breed-infested plant, for example? And if this is a _Vatican affiliated_ organization, what are I and Finny and very possibly other breeds doing being employed here? Don't you think it's weird, to put it mildly?"

The boy didn't answer right away. "You spoke with the Undertaker?" he said after a while, calmly, reaching out for his drink and taking a long, noisy slurp.

"I did. But the fellow was sporting a brand new scar on his throat so he wouldn't say much. The only thing he did mention though was that you should talk to your confessor…"

The petite investigator huffed, slamming the paper cup back onto the table. "See? See? That's what's really fucked about this place! That fucking weirdo creeps around getting all sorts of funny ideas into people's heads, like there's something mysterious and ...occult…and some fucking conspiracy going on, and then it all turns out to be one of his fucking jokes. What the hell? And if you must know, I had a confessor when I was very little, and it was only because Mom wanted to, but fuck! I haven't spoken to him in years! The fuck, I've got nothing to confess!"

 _Oh, I think you do…and you're still little…_ I inwardly chuckled. "That's not how he meant it, Ciel. He said that the confessor has things to tell you, that there are some things you should know," I explained, only getting in return a roll of eyes as Ciel stuffed his mouth with a handful of my chips.

"Mark my words, Sebastian - I am SO not doing this! Pfftt… I can't believe you fell for the Undertaker's tricks. Stupid demon!"

* * *

Maybe I should have just let things unfold and done nothing, I told myself as I walked out to 'dinner'. Trying to get some sense into Mr. Ciel Phantomhive investigator extraordinaire had proven every bit the epic failure I had expected to begin with. Of course he didn't trust me, I was the demon. The _stupid_ demon, more precisely. And besides, I had nothing but my suspicions to share, nay, not even that. I had only my questions to share with him and as far as he was concerned there was nothing which raised any particular question. It wasn't because he wasn't a smart boy, but because deceiving himself into believing everything was just fine was more comfortable that thinking something was wrong, especially after all he'd been through. And I couldn't blame him.

Not a word of the library alarm and of what had happened to Alois got out, not as much as the faintest rumor, therefore I assumed that probably Father Faustus had already taken care of covering things up effectively. In these circumstances, I sure wasn't going to push my luck by asking any nosy questions. In fact, I was going to keep as low a profile as possible, until the waters stilled, telling myself that a bit of subtlety couldn't hurt for once. Of course, I didn't think the Undertaker had been joking about anything – that scar clearly wasn't a joke and it was hard to believe that he'd inflicted it onto himself just for the sake of making things look real.

The more I thought of it, the more I convinced myself that there was something awfully fishy about _Father_ Faustus in particular. He was just too composed, too fearless for someone doing that kind of job – after all he was fighting against things that clearly surpassed any human. And it was no absurd determination of a cracked fanatic about him, but rather the calm of someone who knew exactly what they were doing, without any risks and without any uncertainty. And that was the most puzzling fact.

I thoroughly enjoyed my dinner that night, taking enough time to indulge in some quite entertaining 'dessert' as well. It was a much welcomed break from the regular torments of my job, and it turned out I really needed one. All the more since soon enough more crap was going to come my way.

* * *

It must have been around three in the morning when I made my way back home, purposely ignorant and oblivious to any oddity I might have encountered on my return at that odd hour. I sped up through the dark church and down the stairs, and then all the way to our little apartment with brisk steps, not looking right or left, as if chased by someone unseen I was desperate to escape. This wasn't altogether impossible, at any rate.

I carefully locked the apartment's main door behind me, noiseless even, and noticed that everything was quiet. _Good._ I went straight to my room, without bothering to turn on the light, and dumped my clothes on the floor in a heap before slipping between the cool, welcoming sheets. I stretched, allowing myself to relax at last, my body still slightly elated by the remainders of earlier pleasure, for once grateful for the large mattress. My chest expanded as I took a deep breath, taking in the scent of fresh linen, and my heavy eyelids closed at last. But then my sprawled out fingers encountered something that shouldn't have been there, in my bed - which was supposed to be _empty_ – and I bolted upright in a surge of panic, with a loud gasp and patting around desperately to switch on the nightstand lamp.

"What did you think it was, a monster in your bed? Heh, I totally owned you!" Ciel snickered with a lopsided grin from under the duvet. Still up on my feet, I blinked, now past the initial shock, and resisted the urge to jump and strangle him on the spot. Why was _I_ the demon, again?

"What the fuck?! There _is_ a monster in my bed," I grumbled, ill-humored. The petite investigator patted the mattress next to him and I slid back onto the soft bed, my panting gradually subsiding. "Just how idiotic are you, Ciel? I could have ripped you to shreds just now! What the hell were you thinking, sneaking up on me like that?" I growled, refusing to raise my voice too much and thus show more weakness.

The boy just snuggled closer to me in reply and snickered some more. "Like hell you would have, you should have seen your face, Sebastian. Scared shitless, weren't you? Heheheh!"

 _Obnoxious little shit!_ "So, to what do I owe the pleasure of this unusual visit? Any particular reason for deciding to plague me with your presence at this late hour?"

"Why are you so mean? I just needed to be with you," Ciel murmured against my bare shoulder, his breath warm and moist. "And what the hell took you so long tonight?"

Oh, so he had been monitoring my movements all this time. _Argh!_ And yeah, I had taken my time. So what? There had been no emergency. But for some reason I suddenly grew self-conscious and sniffed rapidly and discreetly, to check whether the perfume of my previous prey had lingered on my skin. Negative. Well, not that it was any of his business. And why the hell was _I_ mean?

Ciel, we are SO not having this conversation again!" I pointed, but my tone softened. And what the hell did he mean, 'needed to be with me'? "What's the matter, anyway? Are you afraid to sleep alone?"

My biting insinuation hit its target, because the petite investigator stirred suddenly, kicking the covers off, sat up abruptly and without a warning straddled me, reaching to grip both my wrists and pin them down. For a moment I thought he was about to punch me in the face next, but instead he leaned down to kiss me. Just a soft, nibbled peck onto my lips at first, gradually growing into something more fierce. My hands rose to get a hold of his small waist - undecided whether to push him away or not – and my fingers accidentally slipped under his shirt, ghosting over the heated skin underneath.

Ciel pulled back suddenly, a mixture of hurt and disbelief in the large, blue orb fixed upon me. "No, d-don't!" he stammered, forcefully pushing my hands away from his body. "You… don't really like me, do you?"

I sighed loudly, folding my arms onto my chest defensively. "What's not to like? You called me a stupid demon about ten times today… And I lost count of how many times you called me an idiot, oaf and many other charming things. I have never been or felt so showered with affection in my entire life, both as a human and as a demon. And tonight you crept into my bed to scare the hell out of me just for your amusement!"

"I said nothing untrue! And if you were a real, mature man you would assume it, too!" he retorted right away, pointing a finger at me accusatorily.

_What?_

I scowled and grimaced, unable to control my facial expression as I couldn't decide whether to get really, really mad or to burst into laughter and laugh my ass off – he was _that_ unbelievable. Eventually, I resolved to give him a taste of his own medicine.

"Fine," I agreed, raising my palms up in acceptance. "I fully assume it – I am a stupid demon. The very fact that I ended up being a demon is the result of my own fuck up and I take full responsibility for it. But are you equally ready to admit that you are a short-fused, bipolar bastard who is afraid to sleep alone, even if you're what… almost nineteen?"

Ciel said nothing in reply, averting his gaze, but the sharp intake of breath made it clear that he'd taken the hit in full. _Serves him right, though…the little bastard._ I reached up to pull him gently in my arms and he did not oppose. "You don't like me," he eventually concluded, his head resting against my shoulder.

"Maybe I like you a little, but I don't want to take advantage of your confusion. And earlier you didn't kiss me because you wanted to, but because you are afraid of something and you're seeking my protection. But Ciel, I am here to protect you anyway, you don't have to do anything to get onto my good side"

"I'm not confused about this, I do want you," he breathed, lips brushing against my collarbone," Even if yes, I admit that it helps me stop thinking about other things. The petite investigator pushed himself up a bit, his mouth finding mine once more. "I…mmph… take me, Sebastian…" he muttered between hurried, sloppy kisses," Ahhh, make me yours! I want to be all yours!"

The next second I was on top of him, my lips pressed against the hot flesh beneath which pulsed the forbidden blood, rapidly disposing of the pieces of clothing which got in the way the most – namely his boxers and mine. His scent was intoxicating and I let out a low, pleased growl as I nibbled at the soft, sensitive spot on his neck. "Mmmm, delicious..." I complimented in earnest, but then the petite investigator gently pulled my face up and he glanced into my eyes with a mixture of excitement and fear.

"Sebastian…" the boy murmured softly, as he pushed his left thumb past my lips and impaled the small pad onto my sharp teeth. The flavor of the few tiny drops reaching my tongue invaded my mouth, almost instantly throwing me into something very close to a drunken haze. I realized this would have been really dangerous had I not been already full for the night. Like this, it was only some more 'dessert'.

Ciel hissed as I hungrily sucked onto his thumb and lifted his hips in order to press our groins together, wrapping his legs around my hips and seeking the much needed friction. His dainty fingers clawed impatiently at my bare back and I wasted no more time, burying myself in the tight, welcoming heat of his body almost without preparation, driven by my lover's addictive moans.

The boy threw his head back, his whole body arching against the mattress as he moved his hips in rhythm with my own thrusts, with more confidence this time. "Oh God, S-Sebastian! More, ahnnn, more! Harder!" he cried softly as I repeatedly hit his sweet spot - his sensual voice feeling like the strongest drug to my ears – and I couldn't but oblige him, as I felt my own climax drawing near. A few powerful thrusts later we were both spent, panting in each other's arms.

* * *

I scooped Ciel up in my arms, careful not to disturb his light sleep, and carried him back into his own room. I laid his – this time fully clothed – little body onto the mattress and gently moved to tuck him in before I could return to get some more rest myself.

"Mmmm… the fuck are you doing, Sebastian? Did you just kick me out of your bed?" the petite investigator grumbled half-asleep, shifting between the covers with an ominous scowl.

"Love, it's already seven in the morning. You-know-who might pop in here any minute now just to 'check what you are wearing', so it's best if we take measures to prevent any inconvenience. Last time she was getting pretty close," I explained defensively and making quite the effort to sound coherent myself.

Some unintelligible growling came in reply as Ciel pulled the duvet over his head. "Mphhhhat…the fuck is wrong with her…"

"I have to say, all these precautions are starting to make me feel like I'm having an affair with the prime minister's wife of something. All risqué and stuff…"

"Sebastian…"

"Yes?"

"You say the stupidest things!"


	11. Chapter 11

I climbed slowly onto the treacherous roof and then slid carefully along the wall of the main dome, making sure not to stumble and disturb the ancient tiles heated by the afternoon sun. The church roof was unwelcoming to say the least, but hell, it wasn't supposed to be a lounging area of any sort. Faithful to his habit of disappearing without notice and making everyone go amok as a result, Ciel had decided to make his way up there in mysterious ways – alright, actually there was a sort of staircase, but I wouldn't have pegged him as having the guts to attempt such a dangerous climb.

So there he was, perched upon the tiles in full sun, smoking in rather peculiar concentration - probably what he thought to be a badass attitude - and I couldn't help a snicker at the sight. That drew his attention and the investigator's gaze shot up at me with a start.

"Is that a spliff you've got there?" I asked as the scented smoke floated in my direction carried by a light breeze.

The boy didn't answer, just stared at me as I leaned casually onto a smaller spire with an iron crucifix on top. I watched the one deep blue orb as it blinked a few times - seemingly assessing my frame - and then Ciel's gaze travelling back and forth between me and the crucifix.

"If you're waiting for me to catch fire or something equally spectacular, you're wasting your time, _little one_ ," I pointed, grinning at the instant scowl which made its way on the petite investigator's face.

"I'm not _little_ , you fuck!" he spat angrily. He took an extra-long drag from the remaining bud and choked. "How did you find me?"

Since he didn't look like he was planning to move from there anytime soon, I dropped down and sat cross-legged in the shadow of the spire, shielding myself from the merciless sun. "Oh, it was simple. I just had to follow the trail of negative energy all the way up here," I said and he shook his head in a 'you're fucking hopeless' manner. "By the way, I thought _Alois_ was the one smoking weed… but I was clearly misinformed. Does Father Faustus know about this?"

"You really are an old fart, Sebastian!" he retorted, tossing the bud and crushing it nervously under his boot. Yeah, he definitely loved me more and more…

"What the hell are you doing up here anyway? Everyone's got their panties in a twist because you were suddenly nowhere to be found!"

The boy waved his hand dismissively, ignoring my question and fumbled to stuff the lighter back in the cigarette pack. There was something off about him, I could tell by the way he sat there, slightly awkward, looking as if he were cold even under the baking hot sun. But short-fused as I knew he was, I didn't want to push his buttons any further and get no results, so I waited for him to say something first.

"So, um… have you talked to the Undertaker lately?" the boy asked, leaning back onto his elbows and stretching his legs. Little did he know that he still looked uncomfortable, no matter what he did.

"Why? I though you said he's full of shit" _And I've decided to let things cool for a while anyway…_

Ciel chewed on his lower lip, visibly nervous this time. "Damn right he is, but somehow he always knows a lot of things. I think… um… I think he knows about us…"

So that was it then? My hopes of his awareness having increased all the sudden were vanquished once more. Damn! As to what Ciel feared, what were the odds of that having happened? Apparently nobody had yelled at him or attempted to chop my head off, so chances were that they were all clueless as to what had occurred between us twice already. And how could anyone have found out anyway?

"I went to the office this morning to go through an older file and Father Faustus was there… and he looked at me in very funny way," the investigator muttered, a slight frown lingering on his features."He didn't say anything, but… he looked sort of… reproachful"

Somehow I doubted _that_ was the problem. More likely he had discovered that it had been us who had found Alois and started the alarm - which was a very bad thing, now that I thought of it. "Well, you do say such sweet things to me all the time and quite loudly, so… But I don't think he knows, Ciel. And even if he did, it's unlikely he would bring it up anytime soon. You're not a child anymore and if you think about it, this is actually his fault"

Ciel blinked. "What?"

"He's the one who 'brought demons on sacred ground'," I said wiggling my fingers, "So you can always shove that in his face for good measure. He is the only one who can be blamed for you falling prey to my maleficent influence"

The boy rolled his eyes, shaking his head. "I'm not supposed to know that, remember?"

"Yes, but you've got it all figured out, because you're a smart boy. He should have known that"

Ciel pulled his knees up to his chest and stared somewhere past my shoulder, thoughtful. I suddenly wondered if it wasn't the time to share my suspicions with him after all, but what kept me was that he still appeared to be bothered by something he wasn't yet letting out. I watched silently as he decided to pull out another spliff and light it, noticing that his fingers trembled slightly.

"Sebastian, the other day you were looking in the archives for a demon or something which manifests itself in the form of a 'breath' or… wind? Why?"

 _Right! I wasn't very subtle about that one… What the hell was I thinking?_ So the boy had caught wind that I was hiding something from him and now I had to tell him the truth, or at least the tiny bits of truth I'd gotten myself, which wasn't very much really.

"Well?"

He offered me the cigarette with a questioning look and I took a long drag in turn, inhaling the familiar flavor. I hadn't smoked one in a while, after my change all the drugs which had plagued me in my unruly youth had been replaced with a single one – blood. _A bookworm with addictions, who would have thought?_ As such, I now found no excitement, no particular savor in the scented smoke which filled my mouth and lungs. It was a pity, since now smoking could no longer harm me.

I took a deep breath, passing the spliff back to him. "Well, actually… things were a bit different the night when I found Alois in that peculiar state. When I entered the church that night, at first I heard him talking to someone. And that someone was saying 'you owe this to me. You would have been lying dead in some gutter long ago if I hadn't brought you here, you would do well to remember that'"

The petite investigator frowned, pondering. "Who said that?"

"I don't know, that voice… well, it didn't sound _human_ to me. Anyway, it was coming from one of the confessionals, so I went there set on finding out what was going on. But when I opened the door, something like a strong wind mixed with smoke hit me and I was sent flying, hit my head onto the floor, all in all quite unpleasant. Alois was sitting there dumbstruck and I tried to get some answers from him but… I think I might have shaken him a bit too hard, because all I succeeded in was to make him pass out"

Ciel was watching the tips of his boots in concentration, a deepening scowl plastered onto his face, while I wondered whether he believed me or not. But then again, I told myself, what reason could he have had for thinking that I was making everything up? No, as long as I wasn't directly 'incriminating' anyone, I was on the safe side.

"I suppose that's why you've been asking me those questions…" the petite investigator concluded, not lifting his gaze before he took another drag from the spliff. "So what is your theory? What do you think is going on?" He passed the cigarette back to me.

"I don't have a theory just yet," I confessed openly." I'm still trying to figure out what's going on…"

"But do you think Father Faustus has anything to do with it? With what happened to Alois? After all he's the one who brought him here, God knows where from." Saying that he paused again, watching me and probably waiting to see whether I would explode at the mention of God or something. No such luck.

"Well, what I do know is that he's hired at least two demons to be able to cope with the tasks at hand. I won't be the one saying that it's necessarily a bad idea, but it leads to the possibility of him having got a bit carried away in the process… Seeing how I and probably Finny too have certain limitations, because we are half human after all, he could have decided to summon a demon much more powerful than us and which he may not be able to control as well as he thinks"

The boy snorted. "So this mysterious demon he's summoned… why has it attacked only Alois and no one else until now?"

Actually, I had a very likely explanation to it, but it was rather sinister to say it out loud – it was already incriminating Faustus. But Ciel pressed me for an answer, he wanted to know.

"As horrible as it may sound, it could be that in order to appease this demon Father Faustus is feeding Alois to him. Maybe not-"

I didn't get to finish my idea before Ciel interrupted me. "No! He'd never do that! Father Faustus would never do that!" he shouted, tossing the cigarette bud at his feet and crushing it furiously under his heel as he stood up, towering over me.

"Like I said, Ciel, everything is just a theory. But you should be aware that power, or the prospect of it, can change people in very surprising and horrid ways…"

* * *

The petite investigator tapped the end of the pen against the table to some unheard rhythm, seemingly lost in thought as we patiently listened to Father Faustus' instructions. The priest's tone was calm and even as always, but what he was actually saying was quite the reason for concern – namely he was sending the two of us to hunt for the red haired breed (whose full name was apparently Grell Sutcliffe) and his minions. Again.

"Seeing how Sebastian was able to singlehandedly deal with Sutcliffe and the triplets last time, I expect this shouldn't be a problem. It is very important that their lair – and apparently the abandoned factory was not it – be searched for whatever documents may be in their possession. We must retrieve and study them if we want to know more. Any questions?"

_If you're trying to get rid of us, this isn't very subtle…_

Beside me, Ciel had taken to studying the file the priest had prepared for us and I shot a peek at it – apparently this time we were faced with the daunting prospect of exploring some old graveyard (to be read _more fucking crypts_ ). _Ugh!_ Probably the petite investigator who sat calm and composed in the other chair in front of Faustus' desk felt quite safe, invincible even, thinking that his demon fighter would be there to protect him no matter what, but I personally dreaded the idea. Fragments of that night when rescuing Ciel ran through my mind, each more horrible than the others.

"I think there is a little problem here, Father," I said, trying to sound casual and examining my nails (fresh shiny black manicure in place this time), "I'm not sure what you mean by 'I can deal with them'. If you recall, back at the old factory Ciel shot Grell Sutcliffe in the head and last time I had the pleasure of meeting these fine fellows I was under the impression that I had successfully disposed of the triplets. However, from what I just heard it turned out to be a mere impression"

Faustus leaned back in his chair, adjusting his spectacles with the same unreadable expression as always, watching me intently.

"So, bottom line, the problem is that they _don't die_ ," I added, just to make sure I'd made myself clear, although in that moment I had some serious doubts that my words were in any way getting through to him.

'Yes, but _you_ can't die either' his emotionless eyes told me, as he brought his fingers together thoughtfully. "I know, however killing them is not a priority right now. You have successfully disposed of them in the past, at least momentarily, therefore I don't see a problem in achieving our objective. The documents they may have – and we have reasons to believe that they are in possession of some really rare items – can hold the key to the effective destruction of all their kind," the priest pointed.

For some reason I really didn't like how that last phrase had sounded. _The key to the effective destruction of all their kind… does that include me as well?_ For the first time it occurred to me (and fucking hell, it should have occurred to me in the beginning, had I not been so foolishly confident in my demonic abilities) that maybe - or better said very likely – the NUIT organization was planning to dispose of me as soon as my purpose in serving them was fulfilled. The thought instantly terrified me and set my mind working in search of a solution. Faustus had made a mistake this time, involuntarily warning me about his intentions, but now I had to do something about it. I could go out for a late 'meal' and simply not return – that was the first idea popping up. But then what? Run where? I had no idea how Faustus had found me to begin with and hell, I had been keeping an _extremely_ low profile in all the years since my change. Still, he had discovered me, they had discovered me. The sudden question of my own survival, faced with a foe I knew almost nothing about, sent my mind reeling and I couldn't focus on anything else anymore. The hell with Grell Sutcliffe and his minions!

"Sebastian!" I eventually snapped out of it to find Ciel observing me with an inquisitive gaze. "Were you spacing out or something? What the hell? This is important!" he scolded me.

"Ciel, please!" Father Faustus intervened, frowning slightly in the boy's direction. "Now Sebastian, I have analyzed the situation and I believe there is nothing we should be exceedingly worried about," he said. "I know it sounds a tad reckless, but I am firmly convinced that we can do this"

I didn't bother to struggle for a reply as I sat there, feeling utterly helpless, while the investigator still watched me with a scowl, probably thinking I was afraid all the sudden. At that point he was probably unable to imagine that I too could feel fear. At last I managed a brief nod, while Ciel closed the folder in his lap and stuck it under his arm and we both stood and walked out of the priest's office.

* * *

I dropped down at the small desk in our office and instantly buried my face in my hands, prey to one of the most horrible moments in my entire life. I felt like a cornered beast, with no possible escape. No, that wasn't right, I was going to find a solution, I was going to fight, as soon as this temporary, accursed moment of absolute panic and depression was going to wear off. I just had to let it pass.

"Honestly now, Sebastian, just what the fuck is this?"

Of course, the petite investigator from Hell had pursued to pester me some more. "You're a grown man! _And a demon_! You can't just crap out like this!"

"Oh sure… I cannot _crap out_ now, I must do my job for which I have been allowed to live this long! And when you will eventually hold the key to the effective destruction of all _my_ kind, then I will be effectively disposed of myself! But you know what? I really appreciate that at least he was honest about it – so that I know what fate awaits me!" I blurted out, my fingers desperately digging into my forehead, as if that could make me disappear or something.

"Are you planning to… leave, or…?" the boy asked, after a few moments of awkward silence.

 _Leave? Like where the fuck could I go?_ Currently I wasn't getting any better, if anything I was feeling worse by the minute. Hell, I'd forgotten how these _human_ things were like. My head dropped from my hands onto the table with a dull thud - the rest of my body crumpling with the motion – and I didn't give a fuck as to who could see me or what they were thinking about it.

"S-Sebastian… don't leave me"


	12. Chapter 12

The preparations for our upcoming mission were a total blur for me, just when I should have stayed sharp and focused. If I wanted to survive, generally speaking, I had to see to surviving this mission first. But I couldn't concentrate, there was just too much on my mind. I was well aware of my own tendency to overreact with panic and blow things out of proportion at first sight, but I was hoping I could control it better. Only this time it wasn't some trivial thing I was worrying about, it was my own survival.

I did my best to conceal my inner turmoil, at least from Faustus, even if Ciel knew now what I was thinking. And he had asked, no, almost begged for me not to leave him. Not that I was able to, anyway, but thus I had caught a glimpse inside his own fears – because he _was_ afraid of something. I had no idea what – and he had rejected my suspicions – but still, there was something eating at him. Of course, getting it out of him was no easy task, but I wouldn't push it.

Going down after Grell Sutcliffe and his mates in the crypts was another sinister prospect. Aside from having no knowledge whether it was only them that we would encounter down there – and it was very unlikely for them to be all alone, without at least a pack of dog breeds – the fact that they couldn't be killed was disturbing to say the least. Not to mention, now that they knew what _I_ was, I had completely lost any advantage of them underestimating us.

* * *

Once more, it had to happen at night. I hated the thought, although there was good a reason behind it – most likely during the night the breeds would be out 'to play', leaving their lair unguarded. At least that was what Father Faustus thought, but I had some doubts as to the whole thing being so simple. From my (not so extensive) experience within NUIT, things tended not to go too smoothly with the missions. And besides, down in the crypts there was as much darkness during the day as it was during the night.

We parked the car inconspicuously across the street from the ancient cemetery, carefully checking if there was anyone around who could have seen our gear. We couldn't carry many weapons just the two of us – Ciel had his small Walther P99 and I'd been given a new set of two full-auto Berettas, along with a new Remington 870. After losing the previous weapons in such a short time, especially the shotgun I hadn't the chance to fire at all, I could tell that Bard hated me already.

I glanced past the rusty gates, onto the vast space filled with moonlight bathed tombstones. It seemed deserted, there was no apparent movement. Awfully quiet, but it was a cemetery after all. We crossed the empty street and I pushed the gate open, doing my best to muffle the screeching sound it made. A layer of rust eaten metal stuck to my palms from where I had gripped the hinges tightly and I wiped it away on my trousers as I looked around, searching for the monument Father Faustus had described.

"It must be further away, "Ciel pointed, adjusting his messenger bag better on his shoulder. "There's nothing here"

Indeed, as far as we could see there was nothing but small tombstones, some blackened with age, sunken and crooked, but there was nothing resembling a mausoleum. Thick roots grew from the uneven ground, tangling around the cracked stones, and the narrow, cobbled pathways were almost entirely covered by tall weeds.

"Sebastian, you're not really worried about those breeds, are you?" the petite investigator asked, as we padded down the largest pathway, our boots occasionally catching in the vegetal traps beneath our feet.

"I am, a bit. I can't but consider the fact that I have no idea how to kill them, whereas they probably know how to kill me. I know what Father Faustus said, but I still think this is reckless"

"Maybe they don't," the boy replied, after a moment of reflection. "They fled the last time…"

"They were surprised the last time. Unprepared. But now that they know I'm 'somewhere out there', it might not be the case anymore." I realised that I shouldn't have said that. Ciel was already troubled and I had managed to make the mood even gloomier with my pessimistic assumptions. I decided to change the subject. "So what does the file say?"

He looked up at me surprised, hands involuntarily clutching protectively at the bag he was carrying. "The file? What do you mean?"

"According to Father Faustus, the breeds are in possession of some items that can hold the key to the effective destruction of all demons. Isn't that what he said? Isn't that the reason why we're here?"

The investigator snorted. "Well, yes – I see you were probably wondering what that is, since we're always putting so much effort and taking so many risks in retrieving the breeds' possessions. It's the _Grimoire_ we're after"

"The Grimoire?"

"Yeah. If you don't know what a grimoire is, look it up on Google," he said bored. "Anyway, I can't say that I share Father Faustus' optimism about it. The Grimoire has become more like a Vatican legend these days, even if we continue to pursue it. It has been searched for by the Church's investigators for the last two hundred years, with no results. There are just too many 'magic books' out there, some really good counterfeits too, you know, new stuff made to look old and valuable. But even the age and authenticity of an item is no guarantee – most of the books written in the old times were crap to begin with"

So, it was safe to say we were looking for a needle in a fucking haystack. _Very reassuring._ But maybe that was a good thing, I pondered. If Faustus didn't get his hands on the Grimoire anytime soon, it meant that I would have more time to think and investigate a way of escaping him and NUIT. Of course, that meant finding out a lot more about what was going on, but if I had time… Not to mention, the book was a legend. That could very well mean that it may not have worked as 'advertised' at all. All in all it was an encouraging perspective.

"There!" Ciel suddenly pointed, pulling me from my musings. "By those trees, see? That's why we couldn't spot it from the gate"

I glanced in the indicated direction and there it was – a small mausoleum, if not entirely inconspicuous, hidden among oak trunks and shadowed by the leafy branches. Ivy hung from the complicated spires of the roof, thick and tangled like a dark green curtain, effectively concealing the worn stone beneath.

We drew closer, with careful steps, looking out for any sign that our presence may have been noticed. But there was none. The mausoleum looked untouched for years and the doors were sealed with rusty chains held together by a large and ornate, yet equally rusty lock. I noticed there was something written above the door, carved on the stone in large Latin letters, but it had faded to a great extent. I could still make out the name SUTCLIFFE quite clearly though.

"Hah, I did not expect that one. Looks like a family business already," Ciel observed. "I really didn't think he lived in a place with his damned name on the front door."

"Oh my, I already feel like we're invading his privacy, but maybe the information is wrong. Maybe this is not his true lair after all. Look!" I said, fingering the chains holding the doors closed. To my surprise they crumbled in my hand at the slightest tug and dissipated in a trail of black smoke.

"Pffft, it was just an illusion. I hate this whole magic crap!" the petite investigator grumbled, trying the door with his foot. It swung open with a faint creak, revealing the darkness inside.

 _Join the club…_ I gripped the Remington with both hands, switching on the weaponlight. "Here we go"

Sweeping the light ray around, I discovered that the room was larger than I'd thought at a first glance. There was a larger tombstone embedded into the floor in the middle and several graves bunked in the wall on the sides. There were candle holders all around the room, but they were all empty. A thick layer of dust covered them and large cobwebs adorned the corners, but onto the tiled floor there was a trail of dried mud and leaves, obviously carried from outside. It went straight from the threshold to the main crypt.

"Careless, careless…"Ciel snickered softly. "Looks like they didn't go all the way with the precautions"

I ignored his comment, glancing down gloomily at the stone lid lying at our feet. I wouldn't have let go of the shotgun for nothing in the world in that moment, so I simply kicked it with the side of my boot as hard as I could, making it glide to the side. Just as I had feared, there were no descending stairs inside, only a gaping black hole. _Fuck my luck a million times!_ The last time I'd blindly taken a leap like that it had ended with me tumbling nastily onto a pile of rocks, hurting my back and legs and losing my gun. There was no fucking way I would let that happen again!

"It doesn't look so deep," Ciel pointed, holding his small flashlight right above the opening. "I can clearly see a floor down there, with no obstacles or anything. But then again it could be another magical illusion to make it look like nothing more than an empty grave…"

"I wish you hadn't said that…" I muttered under my breath. "Anyhow, we're wasting time. Come here"

I wrapped one arm securely around the boy's small waist, clutching the shotgun with the other, and I jumped right in. To my pleasant surprise this time, my feet landed safely on solid stone. No iron spikes shot from the walls nor any other sinister kind of trap seemed to be triggered by our descend, instead a narrow staircase revealed itself in the wall to the left.

"Ciel, I need you to switch off the flashlight now," I said, doing the same with the Remington's weaponlight. It was dark down the staircase, but not completely. I realised that I could see quite well without any light, so it was better not to use them at all. The boy scowled, but did as he was told, for once.

"Oh fuck, it smells like those dogs again," he whispered, keeping close to me as I began to advance downwards, slowly. "Do they really have those dogs _everywhere_?"

I sniffed in turn – indeed there was a vague trail of the now familiar putrid odor, but there was no saying whether it really indicated the presence of dog-breeds or it was the scent of their master as well, no one had taken the time to smell that guy. I personally found it to be more of a problem the fact that he had a chainsaw. Anyway, we were going to find out soon enough, I reckoned. "I hate this…" I whispered back and I truly meant it too, from the bottom of my heart.

As we moved further down, with soundless steps, the light seemed to become stronger, but sadly so did the smell. It was now clearly a distinguishable, foul stench coming from something rotten. Soon enough I had to switch to breathing through my mouth instead of my nose to keep from feeling it. I had always been sensitive when it came to odd smells, but I wasn't going to let that be my undoing.

"Oh my God!" Ciel suddenly exclaimed and I blinked, struggling to shift my focus from the insufficient breathing to the sight before us. The staircase ended in round stone room lighted by a single torch – apparently used as storage – currently hosting an impressive pile of dog carcasses in various degrees of rotting. Future dog-breeds no doubt, not yet 'brought to life'…

"I need to throw up…" the investigator muttered in a muffled voice, both hands clamped tightly over his mouth as he backed against the wall, horrified.

"Shut up!" I said firmly, feeling myself turning green as well. The stench invaded my nostrils as I used my mouth to speak and a wave of dizziness and nausea washed over me. "We need to move on. Now." _I am the mighty crow demon, Paquar-rah! I won't be defeated by some stupid stench!_ I mentally repeated, without much effect, gripping the boy's arm and hauling him up to his feet from where he'd cowered.

We hurried along a long, narrow corridor leading away from the horror storage, and soon the air became somewhat more breathable. I guessed there had to be more ventilation shafts in the underground labyrinth, supplying fresh air from outside, and I wondered whether it meant that there was more than one way out of that place. Still, what worried me the most was that there was no sound whatsoever. The place seemed empty for the most part, although there was no way of knowing how large it actually was. If the priest was right in his assumptions and the breeds really weren't there – out for the night as he'd put it – then maybe there was a chance for us to explore it undisturbed. It would certainly have been a great relief not to deal with them, at least this time.

Ahead of us, the corridor widened a bit, but a brick wall was visible in the distance, blocking the path. It looked like a dead end at a first glance, but it turned out to be the point where it actually split in two. There were two sets of stairs, one to the right and one to left, leading deeper underground.

"Oh hell, so that's why no one's bothered us so far…" Ciel observed, "We are still too close to the entrance and that may not even be the main entrance. Anyway, looks like the lair is further down from here"

But I for one wasn't so much worried by the depth of the underground labyrinth as by its complexity. We had to be able to retrace our steps exactly as to not get lost inside it and especially be able to make a quick escape if necessary.

"So which way do we go from here?" I wondered out loud. There was enough light coming from both sides as to point to the presence of lit torches, as well as their faint scent of smoke, but no sound came from either path.

"The books of old always mention the breeds' predilection for everything which is unholy, therefore apparently all which is uneven, _un-right_ appeals to them and makes their choice... To be honest, I didn't quite get that part, but I'm thinking that in this case _un-right_ means… left?" the petite investigator offered. "If that is so, then the right path is misleading"

"We go left then," I decided – there weren't many hours left until morning and we should have made it out of there by dawn – proceeding down the stairs without waiting for Ciel's approval. Anyway, since he didn't know for sure himself, he had no choice but to follow my lead. I could only hope that I wasn't leading us into a dead end, or even worse, into trouble.

We descended in silence for a while, making our steps as light as possible. I tried to shove away the thought that the narrowness of the stairs and the low ceiling were causing me an obvious discomfort – I hadn't realised before that I had a claustrophobic tendency, but then again never before had I lurked into crypts and the sort, God knew how many feet under now. But still, I pushed myself forward, finding solace in the thought that a larger space could have meant more danger. I almost failed to notice that, even if he kept somewhat behind me, Ciel was now tightly gripping my hand.

"Sebastian, look!" he suddenly whispered and I quickly tore my gaze off the worn steps beneath my feet. Right in front of us there was small wooden door, which I would have failed to see entirely if it weren't for the shiny brass knob. Brighter light was coming from the other side of it.

"Wait here for a bit," I said, lightly pulling my hand away from the boy's grasp. I advanced slowly, on my tiptoes and stuck my ear against the hard wood. At first I heard nothing, but then suddenly a familiar and quite distinctive laughter reached my hearing. _Grell Sutcliffe._


	13. Chapter 13

_So much for hoping to find them gone or something…_ I pulled away instinctively, momentarily at a loss as to what to do next. "What do you know, they're here after all," I told Ciel, who was waiting impatiently, "Looks like Father Faustus was wrong after all…"

The petite investigator scowled, watching the door in concentration. "Fuck! What now? I suppose the books are in there and there's no other way around it, huh?"

"Nope…"

"Well fuck it!" he swore. "We'll have to pull back for now and wait somewhere close until they leave. We have no choice, I'd rather not-"

"Ciel, there is no knowing _when_ they will leave, what exit they will use (because there may be more than the one we found) and there is no guarantee that when they do leave, they will _all_ leave," I interrupted. "If they really have the Grimoire, or any other important book (which we don't know if they have or not at the moment), I doubt they will just step out and leave them unguarded."

The boy grimaced, then his eyebrow shot up in suspicion. "Sebastian… you don't suggest we barge in there and pick a fight, do you?"

 _Actually…_ Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea – get it over with already. My heart told me we would have to deal with Grell Sutcliffe sooner or later, there was no avoiding it. Creeping around unseen was creating too much tension for my liking anyway. But then again… did I really want Ciel to find the Grimoire? Faustus was going to use it to kill me, undoubtedly. It would have been a lot better if we just gave up the mission, go home for now, come back another day maybe. _Stay on the safe side and delay things…_ Except, Paquar-Rah had other ideas all the sudden. The demon part of me had picked up the breeds' scent – the ones I'd fed on right after my rough awakening – and found it particularly appealing, even more so than human blood. Compared to _that_ , human blood was average at best, not even Ciel's blood came close. In other words, I discovered that I had a craving for dangerous food. _Well, what do you know…_

"Ciel, I want you to wait outside until I call you. When I'm done, I'll give you a text and you can snoop through the stuff, if there is any," I heard myself say, almost without my will.

"Sebastian, there's no way in hell I'm going back alone! You can't do this to me!" the petite investigator immediately jumped, with a murderous look on his face.

But we were wasting time arguing and I simply pointed my index finger, showing him the way back. The boy blinked in surprise and opened his mouth to say something, then angrily turned his back on me and began stomping up the stairs. I waited until his steps sounded far enough, before I shed my jacket and my suddenly uncomfortable t-shirt. Hell, I was hungry! My large wings sprang out without warning, fluttering eager for the freedom of movement, only to hit the walls of the narrow staircase. An irritated growl left my lips as I let the crow demon take over me. This was definitely going to be 'Satan's night out'…

The door flew open with a rather lazy kick of my boot, revealing a startled Grell who promptly jumped from his seat, his lean red clad body instantly assuming a defensive posture. The triplets however, scattered around the large, circular room and apparently doing nothing, made no move and showed no emotion whatsoever, their scarlet eyes watching me with a dull coldness.

"Well, well… _Bassy_ , I see you couldn't stay away from me for too long, could you?" the redhead drawled, folding his arms. "Now then, is there anything we can do for you?"

I snorted, licking my lips. "Do for me or _to_ me? If I recall correctly, the last time we met you tried to kill me"

"Ah, likewise I think," he replied, "not to mention you ruined _everything_ , just for the sake of that pathetic little boy. By the way, was he any good? Worth the trouble you took with us, for what… barely a few mouthfuls of blood? And what now, hm? What do you want?"

"The boy is unharmed, he is right outside," I informed, "and you can have him in exchange for your miraculously resurrected minions and something called 'the Grimoire'"

The breed's muddy green eyes widened behind his spectacles, no doubt he was taken aback by my suggestion. "Oh, _Bassy_ , I very much fear that you are as thick as you are handsome," he cackled, "See, I don't think you understand-"

"No, _you_ don't understand!" I growled, interrupting him, because my patience was already wearing thin. "I've been alone all my life - a _very long_ time that was - and I've always been just fine on my own. I don't seek an alliance with you, I don't want to help you in any way, in fact I don't give a fuck about you at all! All _I_ care about is my own safety and my own meals! As such, much to your misfortune, I have decided that I want to feed on your minions and that the Grimoire would be much safer with me than with you! So give them to me right now or you shall know my wrath!"

Grell inhaled deeply, his nostrils flaring. "Well, well, isn't this foolish! You were serious, the boy really is outside. This is a wonderful gift and it's not even my birthday yet!" the redhead laughed. "Kill him and bring me the boy!" he ordered the triplets.

I had left the Remington outside (honestly, was I ever going to get a chance to use that weapon?), but the Berettas were still on my belt – I simply drew one of them and aimed in Grell's direction. If he was the master puppeteer, he had to die first, obviously, so I fired without wasting any more time. But he was fast, not to be taken lightly, and - most unfortunately - he had the fucking chainsaw again. The buzzing blade effectively deflected the round I had sent in his direction as he leaped graciously off the large mahogany desk and advanced towards me, grinning.

"You have wings, you have claws, but you fight with a gun? Now, how _human_ is that, sweet _Bassy_?"

"Surprisingly, I don't have that many options. I could be ancient and fight 'tooth and nail' literally, or I could be ridiculous like you," I replied. "So I'd rather be practical about it"

His taunting failed to distract me, he did not understand what I was about. Cleary – I realised – Sutcliffe had been himself created through a 'merger', therefore in many ways he was still very much human and his breed side was probably rather superficial. As such, he was unable to understand my far deeper demonic tendencies and cravings. He actually was foolish enough to think that he could _talk_ me out of whatever it was I sought in that moment. _Pathetic!_

The triplets had neither chainsaws nor sharp claws or teeth, but just as the last time they had a pair of curve bladed swords each. If anything, the three purple haired boys were an easy prey. Their moves weren't the most agile and by the blank expression of their faces they hadn't been blessed with much judgment either. It was Grell I was wary of and I had to get rid of him if I wanted to enjoy my meal.

It was twice that the damned chainsaw swished uncomfortably close to my face, even catching a bit of my hair, before I kicked the bastard hard, my boot slamming against his chest. He fell backwards but got up quickly. I had to draw the second Beretta and set them both on full-auto mode, sweeping the room in his pursuit, but the damned breed was impossibly fast. Grell slipped through an opening in the floor I hadn't yet noticed and I went right after him, not willing to let him escape again. It could have been a serious mistake – I realised too late – with me so conveniently busy the triplets could have gone after Ciel, but thankfully they didn't. After all, their master's first instruction had been for them to kill me and they didn't seem to be able to think past that.

"Stupid, stupid," I chuckled darkly, as they pursued me through the dark hole.

* * *

Half an hour later I had lost Grell again – there was a much more complicated labyrinth below his chambers and my wings hindered my movements more than I had imagined, as they were purported for large, open spaces – but I'd been wise enough to sort my priorities and at least I had gotten my food. One of the triplets had been fortunate enough to be able to follow his master into the unknown depths, but I'd dealt with the second one right there in the tunnel, while capturing the third as he tried to make his way back to the study.

"Sebastian, you complete asshole! I can't believe you left me there, all alone!"

I heard Ciel's angry footsteps as he made his way, still somewhat cautiously, into the room. He huffed, catching his breath as he'd probably returned in a hurry after waiting for a long and undoubtedly worrying time, to save me. Well, I was hardly a damsel in distress, but his concern was touching, at any rate. I turned to him slowly, still clutching at the body I was feeding on - since the blood hadn't gone cold yet – in time to see his face turn white as a sheet as he still held his gun.

"W-what the hell are you…? What…? Chocking on his own words, the boy stared, his gaze trailing back and forth between my bloodied lips and sharp teethed grin and the limp body which made the object of my current feast. I dropped it shortly, licking the remaining droplets of that rich, exquisite life essence off my lips and claws with a satisfied sigh.

"Look Ciel, the sooner you fully realise what I am, the better. And I am a _monster_ , deal with it!" I said bluntly, since it was nothing but the truth. My petite investigator needed to deal with it, first fuck crush in place or not. Taking a deep breath, he calmly placed his Walther P99 inside the messenger bag and walked past me, without sparing another glance in my direction, proceeding to examine the stacks of books piled in the large bookcase in the back of the room, ignoring my comment.

"Well…" he said after a short while, "It is certain that we cannot take all these books back with us at the base…"

I scratched my head, assessing his small frame as he pondered. "But we really need only one book, not all of them, right? So why don't you focus on finding that one instead, preferably before sunrise"

"Why don't _you_ focus on finding some shit you don't even know what it looks like!" Ciel snapped back at me, randomly grabbing a tome from the shelf and leafing through it. "Look, this is a fucking cookbook!" He threw it on the floor angrily and picked another and another. "This is even better – a weather almanac from 1860s! The weather almanac from 1860s flew gracelessly to join the pile on the floor. "It's useless, this is all rubbish!" The petite investigator slumped to the ground, burying his face in his palms.

My wings having retracted by now, since my feasting phase had successfully ended, I retrieved my t-shirt and pulled it back on before drawing closer to the bookcase myself. Indeed, there were a lot of books inside, some looked quite old, others fairly new, in all sizes and cover colors. It was rather disconcerting for someone who didn't know what they were looking for.

"Why are you so pissed, anyway?" I asked casually, beginning to examine the bookcase myself, since it was quite obvious he was still silently fuming and clearly not because of the books.

"You made all this mess _just for the food_ , didn't you?" the boy suddenly shouted, jumping to his feet. "With no regard for the mission, for… for anything, you fucking bastard!"

"Oh, but I believe that I – how was that again? – _singlehandedly_ managed to get rid of three of the breeds and got you access to Sutcliffe's books, so why are you making a fuss?" I threw the book I'd picked up - it appeared to be some ancient fashion magazine of sorts – and chose another.

Ciel snorted, running a hand through his disheveled, sweaty strands. "This is not the issue! You were behaving like a fucking _beast_ , less than a minute ago! Just what the fuck was that?!"

 _Now, the Grimoire, whether the original or a mere copy, must be fairly ancient. It can't be richly decorated, because it was always kept as a secret, meant to be passed among witchcraft practitioners and the sorts as inconspicuously as possible. It is perhaps leather bound, but nothing expensive… Inconspicuous, inconspicuous…_ Of course someone as garish looking as Grell was bound to have a preference for colorful covered books, probably with lots of pictures, I thought, examining the collection. _But then a simple book would stick out immediately among these, so… it must be something not so obvious from that point of view…_

"Answer my fucking question, Sebastian!"

Of course, here we were, trying to find if not the most important certainly the most legendary book of magic of all times, but Ciel had other priorities. Such as to endlessly pester me for my little gastronomical indulgence. Hell, he was so much like my mother!

I sighed, already tired of the story which had been playing in my mind for quite a while now. "Ciel, like I said, I am _a demon_ , partly but I am. The crow demon possesses great power indeed, just as Father Faustus has probably guessed, but it is incredibly destructive. You must understand that, unlike you and the human side of me, Paquar-Rah knows only his thirst and his hatred, nothing more. There is no logic beyond that, no deeper reason and certainly no mercy. I _must_ keep him under control at all costs, or it will be very bad!"

The petite investigator's expression softened somewhat, saddened even. "But Sebastian… it doesn't look to me that you're controlling the demon at all…" he murmured, still avoiding my gaze.

"I know it doesn't look like it, but like I said before, he needs to be fed. _I_ need to feed, he must get his blood, keep the thirst in check at least to some extent if I want my human side to remain dominant. I'm sorry, I know you think it's a gruesome thing to witness, but you must come to terms with the fact that there is no other way"

But then again, I told myself, why would he have bothered to 'come to terms with it'? It was much simpler for him to seek my destruction, just like Faustus undoubtedly did, even if he had gripped my hand and asked me not to leave him. Ciel was still a child who had gotten himself in something much bigger than he could deal with, he was afraid and had clung to me in a moment of weakness. But most likely, now he must have realised I was no savior either, just another monster, no different than those probably haunting his memories. Now he would surely turn against me. _A rather bitter thought…_

And then I suddenly saw it – royal blue velvet covers, still of a certain sobriety given by the small, simple golden letters carved into its spine: _The Holy Bible_. Now, then, wasn't that interesting? A bible in the demons' lair… I pulled it carefully from its place and turned the cover. A complicatedly designed pentagram adorned the first page, its blood red color vivid and striking against the yellowed parchment.

"Well, what do you know-"

But before I could say anything else, Ciel had already snatched it from my unsuspecting hands, his eyes wide with wonder and lips slightly parted in awe as he leafed through it. My eyes however trailed from his eyes and lips further down to his pale, fragile looking throat.

_I can't let him have the Grimoire_


	14. Chapter 14

I couldn't let him have the book, I realised. That meant Faustus was going to get his hands on it and that was out of the question. I had to do something about it, but I fought to free myself of the daze which threatened to throw me again into a blood frenzy, this time directed at the petite investigator. I knew it had been a mistake to taste Ciel's blood again after my full awakening, now the memory of that taste – of his taste – was imprinted in me deeper than I had ever thought possible.

"We must get out of here, now!" I stated determinedly, gripping his hand and pulling him away from the bookcase, such that the boy barely had time to stuff the Grimoire in his messenger bag. I collected my discarded jacket and the Remington from where I'd left them and started up the stairs, still pulling Ciel after me. He didn't protest, instead looking genuinely worried and maybe he was right, after all there was no way of knowing where Grell had gone and whether he'd really given up on us.

We made our way back as quickly as possible, following the same path we'd come on. It was a true blessing when we finally climbed out of the false grave and we were once more met with fresh air, after experiencing the stench of the dog carcasses for the second time. I could tell that Ciel was excited about our discovery, for an impish smile had crept onto his small face and his hand was gripping mine willingly this time. I almost felt bad that soon enough I would have to shatter that joy, but I had no choice. In fact, he was really lucky that I'd managed to refrain from hurting him. I couldn't help thinking that entrusting _me_ with someone as fragile as Ciel was but another proof of Father Faustus' absolute madness.

I tossed the Remington and the two Berettas on the back seat, then climbed in and slumped over the wheel, burying my face in my hands. What to do? Suddenly I was torn by insecurity, what if… what if it was useless? What if the NUIT would find me anyway and it would be all wasted effort on my behalf, wasted on futile hope? Faustus had found me somehow the first time, despite my being careful and keeping a low profile, so what chance did I have of escaping him this time?

"Sebastian? What's wrong?" Now the petite investigator pawed at my shoulder, but I didn't want to look up and see the concern written all over his features. It made everything so much more complicated, it made everything worse.

"Ciel, I'd like to see the famous Grimoire for a moment," I asked, unable to help the coldness seeping from my tone, but in the same time fully aware that anything else would have sounded like a lie. After all, I was pulling away from him, preparing to abandon him. The thought wasn't enough to hurt me, but it did cause a certain discomfort which was undeniable.

"Why?"

"I thought I felt something strange when I touched it the first time, I need to see that again. Just to make sure I wasn't imagining things. It would suck to get excited for nothing now, wouldn't it?"

The boy's face dropped visibly, the sudden doubt shadowing his previous enthusiasm. At least I didn't have to worry about him being a hard nut to crack, I thought while Ciel rummaged in the bag and pulled out the book hesitantly. "Do you really think there's a chance this might be just another shit magic book, despite the clever disguise?"

I shrugged. "You said yourself that most of the old, original 'magic books' were rubbish to begin with… And how odd would it be for people to have believed and put efforts in concealing some crap which was never true or would never work? It might very well be just some old stuff Grell has collected with time, along with creepy cookbooks, useless weather almanacs and whatnot," I opined, slowly taking the book from him and weighing it in my hand thoughtfully.

Of course, the damned Grimoire did not feel like anything to me - no particular vibe met my fingers, no shudder crept down my spine, no divine pain struck my core. I clutched it to my chest nevertheless to keep the act, sighing deeply. _Now it would be the time to go…_

"Well, Sebastian? Do you feel anything?"

I looked at the petite investigator, his one blue orb widened in awe and anticipation, endlessly beautiful. "Ciel… I'm sorry," I whispered, more or less sincerely, as my right arm shot up to block his attempt to lunge at me and retrieve the book.

Clutching it tightly pressed to me, I pushed the door and darted out of the car in the blink of an eye. A moment later I had left the car behind and jumped straight onto the roof of a lower building, without looking back. I imagined it wouldn't be long until Ciel called Faustus and informed him of my unexpected and altogether unfortunate escape with the Grimoire. Measures would be taken then for my immediate capture, undoubtedly.

* * *

I kept running, passing from roof to roof, moving away from the cemetery and toward the center of the city. I only stopped when the hillside expanse dotted with tombstones and monuments was no longer in sight, just to catch my breath for a few moments. And where was I going anyway? All my things were back at the NUIT base – not that I'd had much to begin with, just a backpack full of clothing – I only had my wallet and my phone on me. _And of course, the stupid Grimoire._ I had shielded the average sized book inside my jacket, keeping it pressed closely to my body, afraid not to lose it.

 _But why go to all this trouble to keep it safe, out of Faustus' reach, when I could simply destroy it?_ It was a good question, but something inside me, call it intuition if you will, told me that maybe, just maybe, the Grimoire could turn out to be useful to me at some point. There was a certain undeniable irony about the situation, which I could not help noticing despite the serious circumstances – I had been an absolute bookworm in my human days, I had loved books with a passion and now a book was most likely going to get me killed.

In the quiet hours before dawn the streets were mostly empty, except for a few random by-passers and cars, disturbingly so, such that it bothered me to hear my own footsteps resounding so loudly. From time to time I scanned the damp concrete beneath the streetlamps, to make sure no one was coming after me. There was no one though and I reasoned with myself that they couldn't have acted so promptly. For one, I had no idea whether Ciel had a driver's license, there was a good chance he didn't have, which meant someone would have had to pick him up first. Since they were understaffed, that could mean a delay. Whatever favorable arguments I could come up with, it still didn't solve the main issue – I had no idea where to go. My old place was out of the question - although it was unlikely for NUIT to think I was stupid enough to go back there – and I didn't have enough money to go to a hotel. It wouldn't have been safe, anyway.

I had reached the area around the center by now, the coquette vintage buildings with complicated, treacherous roofs and crooked chimneys. It was a good hiding place, I decided on the spot, since the sky above was already beginning to light up. Looking around from where I stood, I discovered a small attic window opening just a few feet ahead of me. Well, 'opening' was a figure of speech in the circumstances, for the stained, dirty glass was broken, revealing the dark inside. It was large enough though to allow intrusion and, after a quick peek inside which assured me there was no danger, I kicked my boot decisively into the remaining shards, clearing them from the worn wooden frame.

Gripping the upper side of the frame carefully, I pushed myself in, my feet landing lightly onto the wooden floor below, stirring a considerable amount of dust. The roof was low and I would have surely bumped my head had I not crouched down instinctively. The attic was rather long and narrow, stuffed with an indefinite pile of what seemed to be furniture and other domestic items, all covered with white cloths gone grey with dust. It was clear that nobody had been there for quite a while. Nevertheless, I crept to the small door and tried the knob – it was locked.

A sigh of relief left my lips – at least for now I was safe. Propping my back against something which looked like the back of a solid cupboard, I pulled my knees to my chest, wrapping my arms safely around my loot. I closed my eyes and sleep took me almost immediately.

* * *

I did not leave the attic at all for the next two days, randomly falling in and out of slumber, as it turned out I was far more worn than I had initially thought. The excess of adrenaline had rendered me completely spent, I felt wasted. Obviously, I should have fed, for the thirst was burning mercilessly in my throat like a beckon for the life I should have been fighting for, tooth and nail. Eventually, I decided that I had to get out. From time to time I could hear voices in the house below and it gave me an unsettling uncertainty – what if someone had the idea of exploring the attic anytime soon? I would have had no choice but to kill them, if only to make sure that my presence remained a secret.

Dragging myself up with some difficulty after having sat for so long in that uncomfortable position, I made the effort of climbing out through the small window, onto the roof. The hot afternoon sun blinded me and for a split second I was plagued by a vision of an infinite, barren desert of dry, crumbled stone, stretching as far as the eye could see under the glaring sun. Roofs were definitely a nasty place to be in the middle of the day.

I hurried towards the edge, glancing down into what appeared to be a small, cramped back yard, still paved with old cobblestone. It was empty and I could detect no sound, therefore I simply jumped down, landing with a light thud. Much to my surprise, a rather loud gasp alerted me to the fact that my stunt had not gone as unnoticed as I'd hoped. _Oh… fuck!_

Rapidly glancing around, I discovered that an old lady was staring at me, frozen in mid-movement with a broom in hand and blinking owlishly. Her back was stuck to the iron gates leading out into the street and she looked as if she was going to pass out any moment now. Good thing she didn't look like she was about to scream though, that would have been rather problematic. Sadly enough, I concluded that since she had seen me there my hiding place was compromised and I could no longer return to it. A pity, I thought, for it had been a good shelter. But then again, I was fully aware that I could not remain for too long in one place. Not yet.

The old lady made no move to run, not even to stand aside as I walked in her direction, her spectacled gaze still fixed on me with a highly confused expression. "Please excuse me," I said politely, a light smile on my lips as I passed her, slipping out into the street.

Since it would have looked somewhat ridiculous – and uncomfortable – to continue clutching the stupid Grimoire to my chest, I slid it under my tucked it t-shirt, then zipped the jacket on top of everything. Admittedly, I looked slightly less slender now, but at least I was free to stuff my hands in my jeans pockets. It was a comforting gesture.

* * *

I walked randomly for a while, wondering what kind of hell had broken loose at the NUIT base as a result of my unexpected escape. Faustus' blank, emotionless expression simply begged for one to step on his nerves, I couldn't help thinking, an awkward grin stretching my mouth. At least it was safe to assume that I had managed to thoroughly annoy the fellow.

Unpredictably, I ended up in a pub, asking for a cold beer. The dewed, foam topped pint inevitably led to the complete exhaustion of my current financial resources, but I couldn't have cared any less. The following night would compulsorily be about going after prey and, even though drying up wallet contents as well had not been part of my nocturnal habits so far, my heart told me it would certainly become.

"Looking for a tiny bit of darkness in the middle of the day, aren't ye?"

I turned abruptly towards the man who had spoken to me. He had a sallow face and was awkwardly shrouded in a worn, stained trench coat. A stale odor wafted from his sturdy figure, making me instinctively pull away from him, but he did not seem to be a beggar. He eyed me curiously and I was instantly irritated by the familiar way in which he had chosen to address me, frankly lately I had met too many people who knew way too much about me for my liking. What the hell was with that?

"Ye don't have to be weird with me, lad, "the man went on, despite my scowl and lack of reply. "I know yer kind well enough. Ye look lost to me… Got no place to go? I happen to offer accommodation, nice and quiet as ye folks like it, but ye'll have to pay"

"Yeah? I wonder what has led you to assume such a thing, sir…"

He chuckled, drawing closer again. "I know folks like ye on the run when I see'em, lad, no use to try and convince me otherwise. But ye're a shy one, I see…" Rummaging in his large pocket, the strange fellow produced a card of sorts and pushed it on the counter next to my pint. "This is where ye'll find me when ye make a decision…"

Thankfully, right afterwards he made swift work of removing himself from the seat next to me and leaving the pub, which was an enormous relief. I really wasn't looking for more trouble. But who the hell was he anyway? The paranoid side of my mind immediately pegged him as a NUIT collaborator, sent out to lure me into a trap and thus get their hands on the book without making a fuss in a public place. Reasonably speaking, it wasn't altogether impossible – I was sure that Faustus must have had his sources in the 'underworld', because he knew too much. But still… I picked up the slimy card and reluctantly pocketed it in my jeans.

* * *

It had definitely been a fructuous night. The fucking book had – as expected - hindered me a great deal, but in the end I had a full belly (and a less sore throat) and a reasonable amount of cash. Honestly, never had I thought I would fall so low as to pick pockets, or to resort to a fellow of Mr. Krech's sort (for this turned out to be the name of the shady individual who had so 'kindly' offered me his help), all for the sake of my very survival. It had also turned out that Krech – supposedly an aficionado of anything breed-like – offered the worst possible lodgings at the highest prices, the only solace being that technically I wasn't spending my own money for it.

Thus I found myself in the crappy basement – for 'on such short notice that was all he was able to provide' - of one of the several crappy buildings he owned in the outskirts, a place so unsightly that its very unsightliness could have kept intruders at bay. The room itself was bare, with cracked concrete floor without any rug, while in one corner, under the small window near the ceiling, two old mattresses were stashed one on top of the other over an ensemble of wooden crates. And that was it.

"What do you know, no cable…" I muttered grumpily, dropping onto the coverless makeshift bed and stretching my legs. This was definitely a good place to go mad.

I closed my eyes, hoping that at least sleep would soothingly take me, but not five minutes later the ringing of my phone ruined even that plan. Grumbling some more, I pulled it out of my back pocket and blinked in surprise at the lit display – it was Ciel.

"Yeah?"

I didn't know why I had answered in the first place. Maybe because I was bored? I supposed that must have been it – boredom, for – I told myself - it couldn't have been loneliness, or the slightest concern for the little bipolar bastard called Ciel Phantomhive.

"Sebastian? Please, don't hang up! Just listen to me, okay? Just for a minute-" he whispered, barely audible.

"Ciel, I'm sorry, but I can't let you and Faustus have the Grimoire," I interrupted. He really was wasting his time."This is a war and I'm fighting for my own life. There's nothing you can say that will make me change my mind"

"No, no, just listen, okay? Sebastian… I just wanted to say…"

"What?"

"You were right."


	15. Chapter 15

I sat upright on the bed, upsetting the worn mattress. " _What_?" What had he just said? Could Ciel Phantomhive investigator extraordinaire have possibly admitted that I had been even remotely correct in my suspicions? Now _that_ was interesting…

"Look, I really can't talk right now… Let's meet somewhere, anywhere," the boy pleaded, still whispering. He was probably back at the base and was trying to avoid being heard. But why? "There are many things I think you should know… "

"Ciel, I don't think meeting up anywhere is a good idea. For all I know, _Father_ Faustus may have put you up to this to get a hold of me and his precious book of magic and frankly I have absolutely no desire to fall into his trap." Of course, as intrigued as I may have been by his surprising statement, I wasn't going to be blinded by the smugness of having been right in any way. For such was the nature of Paquar–Rah, such was _my_ nature – to be distrustful and unknowing of the innocence and sincerity dwelling in the heart of another, forever relying on no one but myself. But with this very mindset _I_ had kept _myself_ alive for millennia, it was clearly worth at least some credit.

I could hear Ciel groaning in frustration at the other end of the line. "Sebastian, please…this is really important! Look, tomorrow I finish class earlier, I'll just… I'll just come wherever you want, alone, I swear!"

Insightfulness is quite the handy gift and I could pick up the distress in the boy's voice clearly now, almost a hint of despair. I wondered what it was really – whatever was the matter I had been right about, I doubted Faustus had done anything to purportedly put Ciel or anyone else within the NUIT in danger. Maybe he had been feeding Alois to the other demon I'd had the displeasure of confronting, but even if Alois had eventually succumbed to it, the priest would have probably not risked stirring any suspicion by feeding another member of the NUIT to the beast. Surely he was quite skilled at gathering cute little boys off the streets, just like he'd done with the poor blonde, therefore he would not have problems providing more food for his voracious 'pet'. But Ciel was afraid of something, he'd been afraid for some time now and whatever that thing was, it had gotten worse. He had felt safe - or at least somewhat safer - with me around, but since now I had left him… Yet in the end his safety was not my concern, I had every reason to worry about myself a lot more. After all, it was I who had the stupid Grimoire and had become the target of not only the NUIT but very possibly the breed known as Grell Sutcliffe and other monsters I wasn't even aware existed.

"Very well," I eventually agreed, half-heartedly, admitting that maybe there was something important I had to find out after all. "Come at the White Church in the center, at four o'clock in the afternoon. Get inside and have a seat in the pews, at the front. If you're alone and nobody's followed you there, I will come and we'll have a nice chat, just the two of us"

* * *

I had picked the White Church because it was almost never completely empty and the large square in front of the old building was always crowded, especially in the sunny afternoon hours, therefore I deemed it a safe place. The NUIT night lurkers would never attempt to make a fuss in a place like this, I reckoned, observing the area from a rooftop nearby. It had rained a bit earlier and now the wet concrete was gleaming in the pale sunlight, the countless pigeons having once more resumed their restless roaming around the place. Two older men were playing chess on a bench, while another was still reading the morning newspaper. A bit further away, two schoolgirls were whispering secrets in each other's ear, giggling over something on a phone screen. Nope, there was no one from the NUIT among this lot.

I checked my watch, it was almost four o'clock and my crouched position behind the chimney I'd chosen was becoming more and more uncomfortable. I had not slept well the previous night in the dungeon of a room provided by Mr. Krech, partly because of the shitty, coverless bed, partly because of my own buzzing thoughts and now my patience was wearing thin. I was still worn - being on the run taking its toll on me more than I had thought – and I was prone to worrying about things too much. Maybe Ciel wasn't coming, I pondered. Maybe he had been in earnest but someone had heard him talk to me and they'd stopped him. Maybe he had changed his mind about the whole thing. Oh well, I told myself, I'd give him ten more minutes – if he wasn't coming, he wasn't coming and that was it.

But there he was, a tiny looking, petite young man, clad in his usual black hoodie and baggy jeans, ruffled dark bangs shadowing his patched eye under the pulled up hood as he walked hurriedly, keeping his head down and clutching the strap of a large backpack. The laces of his converses had come undone, making him look even more careless and unkempt than usual. Throwing a quick, suspicious glace over his shoulder, he made his way inside the church. I had to wait though, if I wanted to make sure nobody had followed him.

* * *

I advanced carefully, keeping my steps down to a casual stroll, my hands stuffed in my pockets. Of course, there was no way I could have left the Grimoire back at Krech's place, therefore, as imprudent as it may have been, it was still stuffed inside my shirt. Ciel was in the second row of pews in the front, just as I had asked, slumped over and his forehead resting onto the backrest of the seat in front of him. Quiet as a shadow I slipped along the row of wooden benches and sat down next to him.

"Hey!" I said softly and the boy flinched, finally lifting his head to look at me. He looked quite worn himself, for there was a dark shadow under his visible eye, making the color stick out even more. Whatever it was, it had to be serious enough to have brought him in this state, I told myself. But then I suddenly noticed something else and I couldn't help a smirk.

"Well, well, this is definitely your lucky day," I observed, barely containing my amusement.

As expected, my statement instantly got on his nerves, for he scowled, drawing a sharp breath. "Oh and why is that? Because the one and only Sebastian Michaelis did me the honor of showing up?"

"Actually it's more because you have a huge bird dropping on your sleeve. It's a sign of luck, didn't you know?" His gaze darted to his right sleeve, disgusted at the sight, as his hand rose to take action. "I wouldn't try to brush it off if I were you, it looks still fresh…"

"Are you going to bug me with stupidities now?" Ciel asked annoyed, with a hint of impatience.

"Nope, I think I'll leave that to you," I replied."Now, what are these important things I absolutely have to know?"

The petite investigator sighed, leaning back in his seat. "What have you done with the book, Sebastian? Is it safe?"

Casually stretching my arm on the backrest of his seat, I threw a glance towards the back of the church, but there were only a couple of old ladies in the back pews. Nothing stirred, nothing smelled of danger – for now. "I could ask you the same about myself, Ciel. Am I safe now, here with you? Because however you look at it, I took my chances coming here to meet you"

The boy shook his head, chewing his lower lip. "I hate to say it, but for now there is no such thing as being safe. Not for you, not for anyone, for that matter. It's complicated, but I need to know whether the book is safe"

"Why don't you speak first? You're the one who wanted to talk, so let's hear it. What exactly would you say I was I right about?"

He snorted."Well, you were right to suspect something peculiar was going on, but technically your assumptions were incorrect." _Oh…not right after all, then… "_ You thought that Father Faustus-… No! That _Claude_ Faustus had summoned a powerful demon which he was ultimately unable to control, thus having to feed Alois to him, right?"

"Yes?"

"Now _that_ is inaccurate. Faustus did not summon some mysterious demon, Sebastian. _He_ is the demon! And he's been fucking toying with us all along!"

Well, now that was slightly more cracked than I'd expected. Faustus, a demon? It made no sense and I would have known in the first place. "Ciel, that can't be right. Trust me, I know a breed when I see it, Claude Faustus may be a crazy motherfucker getting himself into more shit than he can handle, but he is not a breed-"

"Just listen, ok?" Ciel interrupted, turning to face me fully. "After you left, I… I had this feeling, this hunch if you will. So I did what the Undertaker had told you I should do – I went to talk to my former confessor. What he told me… I didn't want to believe it either, Claude Faustus has been the closest person to me ever since Mom and Dad died, I refused to believe it but he had proof… The truth is… Claude Faustus' real name is Hafsa, _the spider demon_. A few hundred years ago he was cursed by the priests and imprisoned in the human form he has today and was supposed, as a human, to die and thus perish from this world once and for all. But what the priests didn't know was that Hafsa was used to hunting others of his kind to prolong his own life and so he endured, even in this fragile form. To this purpose, he has taken up the name 'Claude Faustus' and pretended to be a priest to be able to join Vatican affiliated demon-hunting organizations. Like this, he could get all the food he needed, because they helped him track other breeds even easier than he would have done it himself and he was safe from those who could have still been looking for him."

I took a deep breath, my head was slowly but surely beginning to hurt. So, to sum this up, I wasn't actually hunted by a bunch of stupid humans who thought they could mess up with creatures of the dark realms and win, but by some nasty demon I knew nothing about. That explained a lot – how Faustus had been able to find me in the first place for one. Just splendid!

"And he wants the Grimoire because…?"

"Aside from food, Hafsa has been using the demon-hunting organizations to look for the only two things which could help him regain his true form and his full powers – the Grimoire and another thing called 'the pawn'. Incessantly he has been looking for them, all this time, because in the right hands these two items could also destroy him!" Ciel leaned forward determinedly, gripping my arm. "Sebastian, he must _never_ get his hands on the book!"

I raised an eyebrow, pondering as I freed myself from his touch. "And why the fuck would I care about all that? Look Ciel, I get it, yeah? This spider demon or whatever is a bad guy who wants to regain his true form and blah blah blah, but all _I_ want is to survive peacefully and be able to quench my thirst every now and then. I honestly don't give a fuck about his stupid book - or his true form – and if it will make him leave me alone, he can fucking have it and stick it in his ass, as far as I'm concerned. I'm not in his way"

The petite investigator pulled away in turn, snorting and shaking his head. "Huh! So you think he'll just let you live once you give him what he wants? See, I may not know that much about demons, but I think a crow is more powerful than a spider. The spider may have deadly venom, but there's always a chance that the crow's claws and beak might crush it before it makes its move. Hafsa desires supremacy and as long as you're around he won't have peace. Don't you realize that's why he picked you off the streets in the first place, to have you where he could keep an eye on you at all times?"

"He didn't pick me off the streets!" I growled through gritted teeth. "I had a decent job and a place to live, which is more than I can say about this very moment!" A wave of fury washed over me, but he was right. I hadn't really meant what I'd said before, just wanted to make him spill out more of what he knew. So, there I had it – Faustus, the fucking spider demon, had torn my peaceful existence to shreds with a very clear purpose. And the bastard had probably hoped I would help him too. I buried my face in my hands, not knowing what to say.

"He killed my parents and all those who were working with them because they'd discovered the truth about him, so he had no choice but to dispose of the entire NUIT staff at that base. I want him dead, Sebastian. I fucking want him dead and you should want the same…" Ciel said, his voice shaking with unshed tears.

I suddenly wanted to laugh, to simply let out a plain old hysterical laugh, but we were in a church and it would have undoubtedly drawn attention if I were to start laughing like a bloody loon. As such, I had no choice but to swallow back my urge, letting it melt into a deep sigh. "Let me guess," I eventually said, lifting my head, "This would not go smoothly…"

"No," he confirmed my suspicion. "Apparently there's only one way to kill him and I've already explained it to you"

 _This is just great! Just what I needed to hear, how truly fucked I am!_ I needed to calm down and think things through, but with Ciel there, obviously waiting for _me_ to come up with a solution now that he'd laid down the facts, it was proving quite the challenge. Just what the hell was I supposed to say? The boy clearly had a bit of a hero complex, having taken it upon himself to save the world from the spider demon and his malice, or rather having taken it upon himself to pass the task on to me (even better!), but I for one had no such ambitions. I simply wanted to save myself from this predicament and be left alone, for fuck's sake!

"Here, I brought your things," Ciel said, lifting the large backpack from the floor and placing it in my lap. "Good thing you didn't have much stuff to begin with. And now, he'll be distracted too"

"Distracted?"

"When he discovers I left home he'll have to split his men to look for me as well," the investigator explained with a naïve sense of victory. "That is bound to distract him from searching for you. And I was hoping…" he paused, chewing his bottom lip nervously. "… that maybe you'll let me stay with you?"

I facepalmed. "Ciel, if Claude Faustus really is this Hafsa the spider demon or whatever the fuck you said he is, I can assure you he's far more insightful than you think. He probably knew all along how 'close' you and I have become and you can bet your ass that the second he discovers you're gone he'll know right off the bat that you came to me! In fact, it would be a fucking miracle if he hasn't tracked you down here in the first place!" I stood up abruptly, hauling the backpack and throwing the strap over my shoulder, then pulled the boy to his feet as well. "We need to get the fuck out of here! Now!"

"No! Wait, Sebastian! Why do you say that? How could he possibly know? He never said anything!" Ciel argued, struggling to keep up with my long strides as I left the pews and hurried down the aisle towards the exit.

"Of course he didn't say anything, it worked just great for him! As long as I was busy fucking you I would miss out the important things he was trying to pull behind our back!"

I walked through the large open doors, eager to be outside again, in fresh air, only to stop dead in my tracks, so brusquely that Ciel bumped into me from behind. There was a familiar black van waiting just across the square.


	16. Chapter 16

My breathing nearly stopped while I processed what I was seeing. I had clearly misjudged Faustus in thinking he would refrain from making a fuss in a public place, but then again I had made that assumption based on thinking that he was human. A human priest, no less. How ironic was that? I glanced worriedly towards the familiar black vehicle, but nothing seemed to stir inside it as we came into view. _Of course not, they already left the van and have probably surrounded the place._ The thought of Mey-Rin and Finny waiting for us somewhere around with their big guns at the ready was a dismal prospect, one I really did not want to be faced it. I would have hated to be left with no choice but to hurt them, not to mention there was a good chance they would hurt us in turn, or at least me.

Anyway, I could not waste my time endlessly debating various aspects of the problem – I had to take action. _Right now!_ I yanked Ciel's arm and pushed him back inside under the archway.

"Wait, Sebastian! What are you doing?!" he questioned, positively baffled and trying to resist being handled like that. As if he could.

"We're not going this way, they're already waiting for us outside," I growled, momentarily unwilling to analyze possible reasons for that particular occurrence. The petite investigator looked genuinely panicked, but that still didn't mean anything. He could have very well been panicking for what I was about to do and not because right then we risked being captured. I had no proof he hadn't lied to me, at least partly. Okay, maybe Faustus was indeed the demon Hafsa, _that bit_ made quite a lot of sense, but there was no guarantee that Faustus had not sent him after me under the threat that he would kill Lizzy and the others, for example.

" _What?_ Sebastian, I swear-"

"We really don't have time for this and _I could_ leave you here, you know," I grumbled ill-humoredly, "after all it's not you the bloody bastard wants to get his hands on!"

"Yes he does," the boy panted behind me, "I know too much now!"

I strode rapidly down the aisle - Ciel struggling to keep up as fast as his legs could carry him – and I hurriedly pushed open a door in the back of the church. We found ourselves in a small, austere room with few and somber pieces of furniture and only one narrow stained glass window which filled the space with a yellowish light. Fortunately it was empty and I crossed the room without much thought, very nearly ripping the window off its hinges as I pulled it open.

"Come!"

I hurriedly pushed Ciel and the backpack up and through it before slipping my own body through the narrow opening as well. We found ourselves in a sort of back garden, covered with a soft layer of grass and a few random flowerbeds and surrounded by tall stone walls. And there, on top of the thick ancient wall there was a man. I had never seen him before, but his black suit, the solid boots and his sturdy frame made his affiliation unmistakable.

"You'll want to stop right there, mate," he warned, a semi-automatic gun at the ready in his outstretched hand and pointed at us.

"Oh fuck!" Ciel gasped, horrified. "And who the fuck is this guy? I'm quite sure I haven't seen him until now…" he muttered, cowering behind me and gripping the backs of my sleeves. _New staff, eh? He's being smart, the bastard…_ It appeared that Faustus had not been able to come up with a good enough excuse for hunting us to serve to his regular teams… That was a good thing at least, it meant he wasn't able to control NUIT completely. Little solace though, most likely he didn't trust them that much in the first place…

"Quiet, boy!" the man growled menacingly, jumping off the wall at our level. _Mistake number_ _one_. "Now come towards me, both of you, real nice and quiet, no funny stuff! And throw me that backpack!" _Mistake number two_.

And the last mistake he was ever going to make, for that matter. Just as he'd asked, I threw the heavy backpack - more like hurled it right in his face, making him lose his balance. In the next second I lunged at him, knocking his stout frame to the ground. Before he had the chance to react, I viciously slammed my boot into the man's face, his head jerking to the side and followed by the sickening snap of his neck. I moved quickly to collect his gun and searched his body for any other weapons. Nope, just the one. What was he anyway, some sort of clumsy idiot? No, he was a regular bodyguard or something and Faustus had probably failed to mention that _I_ was a demon, since the existence of demons was not exactly common knowledge. So what the hell did he think he was doing with these amateurs? _Whatever._

"S-Sebastian, you didn't-?" Ciel murmured, white in the face and visibly shaken.

"If there was anything fragile you've put in the backpack, there's a good chance it might be fucked now," I retorted, before he could ask what was obvious. Honestly, I hated it myself, I really hated that I'd had to kill the fellow, but there was no other choice, not when he had a gun pointed at us. "Now come, we have to get away from here!"

The petite investigator drew closer on shaky legs and allowed me to wrap an arm around his small waist, in turn wrapping his arms around my neck for safety. I leaped up onto the wall where our attacker had stood earlier and glanced around. The roofs around us offered endless possibilities and there was no other threat in sight. Yeah, the roofs it was. Even holding the boy and the backpack jumping turned out to be fairly easy and I hurried to put some distance between ourselves and the area where I suspected Faustus' men had been scattered. _Or at least that one had been a man…_ There was no guarantee he hadn't recruited breeds as well for his little demon-hunt. Faustus was too well informed for someone with no connections, he must have had minions all over town to be able to track Grell Sutcliffe and his friends in their remote cemetery hideout, which meant finding us couldn't have been that difficult for him either. Now that I thought of it, there was a good chance that Krech himself was an informant, since he 'so generously' offered lodgings to those in need of hiding and stupid enough to trust him probably. And if he wasn't yet (which might have explained how I'd been able to spend the previous night in that bloody den of a room in relative safety), there was always the possibility of him becoming one, for the right price or under the right threat. As such, there was no way in hell I was going back to that place.

"Where are we going?" the petite investigator asked, squirming a bit in my grasp and I stopped, to draw a deeper breath and assess my possibilities. As I put him down onto his own feet and slid the backpack off my shoulder, I couldn't help noticing that his cheeks were moist. Thankfully the sun was still hidden behind the clouds or it would have been hell up here, on the tin boards which got warmed, even burning hot so easily under its glare.

"Ciel, honestly now, how did you imagine this _thing_ was going to be?" I asked while sitting down and pulling my knees to my chest.

Without answering, the boy crouched down in turn and fumbled in the pocket of his baggy jeans, pulling out his pack of cigarettes. He pulled out a spliff and lit it, his fingers shaking as he took a first, long drag. "One spliff a day keeps the evil away," he muttered absentmindedly, letting his gaze wander over the city view, somewhere in the distance. "Do you believe that?"

I had smoked spliff too in my time and I had ended up being a demon myself, so no, I didn't believe it. It didn't even keep one oblivious enough to be able to ignore their problems fully, let alone solve them. All in all, quite the stupid saying.

"If that's your strategy of coping with what's going on, I highly doubt its effectiveness. You said earlier that you want Claude Faustus – Hafsa the spider demon – dead, but what you should ask yourself now is how determined are you really to see this through. How much are you willing to do or to accept, to what lengths are you willing to go to see it done? Because you don't have to make this choice, you can always run and hide and hope he'll never find you. After all, you're a threat to him only because you might talk, but as long as you conveniently disappear and keep your mouth shut about things, he'll no longer be preoccupied with finding you. You said it yourself, the pawn and the book are his ultimate purpose."

"What you said right now only proves how little you know Faustus," the investigator snorted, blowing a soft cloud of scented smoke. "He's quite a methodical being, never leaves any loose ends. The risk of me talking is an important risk for him, there's no knowing whether somewhere there might still be priests able to destroy him through other methods, or make his curse unbreakable. That being said, you can be sure he won't just forget about me… So I have _no_ choice but to go through with this!"

I ran a hand through my hair, sighing. Why did he have to be so damned young? When one is too young it's so easy for them to recklessly plunge themselves head first into things, without thinking. _"This is his fate. And one's fate is upon them from the very birth, no need to be all grown up for that."_ Well, this whole fate thing sucked.

"Then you'll do better to come to terms with the fact that what you've just seen – that man dying over there – is just the beginning. It _is_ a war. Faustus may be the 'spider demon', but he is anything but a tiny little spider one can crush with a well aimed slipper," I said, choking on my own bitter humor. "So, to put it lightly, this is probably going to suck…"

Ciel finished his cigarette and crushed the bud under his heel, then stood up carefully, rubbing the back of his neck uncertain. "So now what? You still did not tell me where we're headed"

 _Now, this is a good question. Krech's basement is off the list and I don't know any other place but that relatively pleasant little attic._ Of course, the attic was risky now, since that old lady had seen me jump off her roof. But then again… the lock on the door communicating with the rest of the house did not seem to have been used in years, so perhaps no one would come to investigate. As much as I hated this sort of uncertainty, I was even less willing to go explore for a new hideout, which could prove even less safe in the end. Plus, the roofs were ultimately an open space where we could be seen, I had to get us out of the open as soon as possible.

* * *

The attic was just as I'd left it, I reckoned after a brief glance through the still glassless window. There was no new trail of steps in the thick layer of dust covering the floor apart from my own fading ones and I hadn't moved around too much anyway. I sighed in relief - no one had come to check anything. Dark clouds were gathering up in the sky as dusk drew near and it looked like it was about to rain again, it was good that we could finally settle for a shelter.

"This is it…" I shrugged, dropping the backpack lightly as not to make too much noise or to stir too much dust.

Ciel looked around at the bare floor and the cramped furniture covered by heavy cloths grey with dust, scrunching up his nose, but he said nothing. It wasn't exactly what one would have called welcoming, still he should have seen Krech's basement, this was a fucking five star suite in comparison.

I crouched, pulling the backpack next to me and finally took the Grimoire out of my t-shirt, the velvet covers slightly damp with my sweat. I stuffed it carefully on top of whatever crap the investigator had piled inside the makeshift luggage in a hurry and pulled back the zipper. We simply sat then for a while, in opposing corners, brooding over our common predicament in silence. Just as I had anticipated, a violent storm soon broke outside, streaks of lightning randomly illuminating the dark space between us. The rain brought in the smell of freshened air and wet dust I'd always loved and I inhaled deeply, willing my muscles to relax. All in all it had been a rough day and it was going to get even more so – I needed some rest.

At some point I saw the curled up from across from me moving to stand up. Ciel padded from his spot over to where I was and straddled my legs determinedly as I sat slumped with my back against the wall.

"Look, Sebastian…" he began, insecurity bordering fear obvious from his tone. "I fully realize that right now I am a burden to you. All I do is slow you down and put you in danger… so I thought…" I lifted my gaze to meet his, only to have my previous assumptions confirmed by the feelings I could so easily read in the one dark blue orb watching me with purpose and hope. "Well, I thought that since I'm probably hindering your hunting, you could at least feed on me…. maybe?"

He'd unzipped his hoodie all the way down and I frowned, my eyes darting towards his pale, now exposed throat. "Ciel, we had this conversation before and I haven't changed my mind. I can't and I won't feed on you, simply because while your blood is certainly enjoyable it is also quite weak so you couldn't _possibly_ sate my hunger." Of course, that was a blatant lie, there was nothing wrong with his blood whatsoever and I could quench my thirst just fine… most likely if I sucked him dry.

His small hands made their way to my shoulders, squeezing softly. "You're so tense," the boy murmured against my lips and there he was, I told myself, trying to fucking his way out of problems again. I didn't blame him though, I wouldn't have hesitated to do the same, if given the opportunity. Inwardly, I realised how (well… fucked?) that particular piece of reasoning sounded, but while my human side might have had some objections to it, Paquar-Rah clearly had none. _Do whatever it takes to keep myself alive._ Sadly, the only person I could and had to fuck to solve things was Claude Faustus, alias Hafsa the spider demon and I had to do it the hard way.

"You're right," I agreed eventually, gently pushing him off me. "I think I'll have a shower, before I really begin to stink or something…"

"What?" the boy asked, baffled, but I was already on my feet, shrugging out of my jacket and letting it drop carelessly on the floor as I climbed out the window.

Once outside I stretched, standing upright under the cold downpour, letting it soak through my hair and clothes. I half had a mind, as I pulled my t-shirt over my head and tossed it as well, that I could even spread my wings a bit, but no… too conspicuous, I thought. I was already giving in to my beastly nature facing the elements so freely, so carelessly. It was truly enjoyable.

"What the hell are you doing, are you completely insane?" Ciel shouted, squinting in the dark at where I stood. Still, he decided to join me up on the roof, getting himself soaked as well in the process. "You're mad at me, aren't you?" he asked, tilting his wet face up to look at me. "Maybe you're even wondering whether I'd betrayed you or not… but at any rate you wish I wasn't here, don't you?"

 _Hell, I wish_ I _wasn't here, in this particular mess! Who I'm with doesn't really matter much…_ I kneeled down so that I wouldn't be towering over him like that and cupped both his cheeks, wiping away the cold droplets sliding onto his face with my thumbs.

"Actually, Ciel… if I'm to be completely honest… I wish you weren't so _little_ ," I replied with a grin which was purposely patronizing. As expected, he instantly frowned (it was incredibly easy to push his buttons with this tiny _little_ word, so easy that I couldn't help myself). But then my mouth sought his, conciliatory, while my fingers slipped teasingly under his wet clothes. This particular setting – I realised – the cold rain, the hard roof boards and various scattered debris was hardly romantic, but I liked it wild and I entertained a strong suspicion that _someone else_ liked it just the same.

"W-wouldn't it be better to take this inside?" the boy stuttered as I pushed him down roughly, after riding him of his upper garments and I began nibbling onto his collarbone. His body scent, even diluted by the rain, was still incredibly alluring.

"There are people living in this house, _little one_ ," I teased further. "We can't risk them hearing you…"

"Hearing _me_?" He pushed me off determinedly and I playfully allowed him to get on top of me this time. Ciel ran a hand over his face, peeling away the wet eyepatch, leaving nothing but his dark, dripping bangs to cover his scarred eyelid. His nails dug into my bare shoulders as he rolled his hips, my muffled growl at the sensation instantly rewarded with a lopsided grin. The boy leaned down to briefly press his lips against mine while blindly fumbling with my zipper. His nimble fingers worked rapidly to free my already throbbing need and he scooted down on my body, looking uncertain.

I let my head fall back, my eyes half lidded, with a pleased moan as his shy lips eventually closed around me. My fingers instinctively found purchase in his hair as Ciel continued to experiment, recklessly toying with my ever growing desire. Predictably, he'd only meant to tease me, seeking to have me reduced to a writhing mess under his tongue as a punishment for using the 'forbidden' word. His sweet little mouth released me with a soft pop before being eagerly molded against mine while he resumed grinding his clothed groin against mine. But this fruitless teasing was obviously getting us nowhere and I took the hint that Ciel was unsure of how to 'handle' things next.

I sat up and, after a bit of effort, managed to free him and myself of the remainder of our clothes. Cradled like this, the boy threw his head back with an audible moan as I placed my mouth onto his milky white, flawless throat, and my nails grazed over the sensitive skin of his torso and back. Whimpering softly, he pulled closer to me, seeking my body heat, as my fingers traced every little bump of his spine under the velvety skin, down to the small of his back, where a bit of rain water had pooled.

"S-Sebastian, please…" the investigator murmured pleadingly, fingers tangling into my hair and I lifted his hips, helping him position above my member and then eased him onto it gently. His tight heat engulfed me torturously slow, but I knew that with Ciel I had to exercise my restraint every step of the way. Damn, I would need to feed after this. His breath came in small, labored gasps as I began to thrust up into him, reaching between us to get hold and take care of his own 'problem'.

"Ahh… hahh-harder!" the boy begged, "Please, I-I need-"

"Of course," I replied with a wide grin, picking up the much needed speed and resting my forehead against his as he embraced me tightly, nails digging wantonly into my back. I worked him harder and faster, my own fingers now gripping greedily, desperately into his soft flesh, scraping and bruising, as my need to release mingled with my need for blood. _Damn it, ah! Fuck!_ Pleasure pooled in my lower belly, but this time there was something wicked and dangerous growing inside me in the same time.

A few moments later Ciel came with a loud moan, his warm essence spilling and coating my stomach before he collapsed onto my shoulder, utterly spent, but I was hardly aware of it. My thirst manifested violently, the burning in my throat momentarily dulled by the intense pleasure of my own orgasm but still awfully present. My whole body shaking and aching with this new and far more pungent need, I sunk my fangs into my wrist, my own blood soothingly filling my mouth as I fell backwards, collapsing in turn onto the hard roof boards. I felt completely exhausted.


	17. Chapter 17

_I will tear the feathers off your wings and the flesh off your bones before I have you chained here under the scorching sun, a helpless prey to your thirst and your hatred! You will beg for death but it will not come for you, crow demon! I will leave you here, in this desert, to suffer the fate you have chosen when you defied me, forever!_

I woke up with a start and a loud gasp, shaking and sweaty. Hafsa's poisonous words still resounded in my ears like an accursed refrain I could not shake off. But had it been real? Had he really spoken to me in the horrid dream I'd just had or was this just the product of my imagination? There was so much hatred in the spider demon's threat, so much that if it was indeed real I was far from even beginning to grasp the true dimensions of his grudge against the world.

Those foolish priests, thinking they could destroy him simply by entrapping him into a 'weak, mortal human body' and just hoping he would perish! Even so he had endured, because they'd understood nothing of his powers and thus they'd only managed to fuel his anger and his malice. It was only a matter of time before Hell would be unleashed – all he needed now were the right tools. They'd been thought to be things of legend, but it had turned out that the Grimoire existed, so most likely that other thing, the Pawn, did too.

"Sebastian! You're back!"

The sudden exclamation made me flinch as Ciel crawled out of the cupboard I'd put him to sleep in the night before, wrapped in my warm and dry jacket. I'd then covered the cupboard back with the dusty cloth, so that no one would suspect he was in there, before I'd eventually headed out to feed. And I had done so with an unusual, extreme appetite which actually had me a bit concerned. What could have stirred it to such an extent? Could it have been the stress, the danger? Was this my body's instinctual response to gather more strength through blood in order to deal with what was coming? More likely I feared that Hafsa/Faustus was pulling some unseen strings, maybe by means of magic, to get us into trouble.

"I woke up at some point last night and you were nowhere! I thought you left me all alone, with the book…" he added, pulling out the backpack I'd stuffed next to him. "I thought that last night you just… fucked me goodbye"

"Last night I went out to feed, just like I do every night…" I muttered ill-humored in reply, scrubbing a hand over my face and willing my grogginess away. _And to get some more money on the side…_ But I couldn't tell him that. And what the fuck was this 'fucked me goodbye thing'? _Ridiculous!_ "And I didn't 'fuck you goodbye'! If I wanted to say goodbye I would have used my mouth!"

Ciel sighed, in that manner which indicated that some spectacular piece of wisdom was coming my way. "Right… Sebastian, I know you're inexperienced when it comes to these things, but people express themselves in other ways too"

Inexperienced… that was new. "Right," I said, "I admit to being completely inexperienced when it comes to relationships and I also wish to reinforce the fact that I have no desire whatsoever in gaining any such experience. Thus, in the light of my _inexperience_ and being completely unaware of what crap you may have read in Cosmopolitan lately, I have to say that I don't 'fuck goodbye' or 'fuck hello' or otherwise express myself with my cock. My carnal acts hold neither any sort of profound or occult meaning, nor do they have any other purpose past the physical pleasure and letting off steam."

The petite investigator rolled his eyes, shrugging out of my jacket. In his infinite wisdom, of course Ciel had forgotten to pack any fresh clothes for himself beside my stuff and the ones from the previous day were still put to dry. "Blunt, aren't you? And _I DON'T READ COSMOPOLITAN_!"

"Stop pestering me and get dressed. We're heading out"

* * *

We'd made our way into a small restaurant not far from the place we'd spent the night and ordered a rich breakfast. Of course, our presence there was a terribly risky business and the semiautomatic Smith&Wesson I'd picked from the dead mercenary did not put my mind at ease at all. It was stuck securely in the belt of my jeans and I couldn't help pawing at it every now and then, nervously. After all, it wasn't far from there that I'd first met the _exceedingly helpful_ Mr. Krech.

But we had to come, I told myself, watching how Ciel wolfed down an impressive quantity of bacon and eggs, toast, jam and butter. From the series 'who would have thought that someone so little could eat this much'… I had ordered only an espresso for myself because I still felt sleepy, although coffee had rarely ever worked on me.

"Thanks for the treat, I guess I needed it," the petite investigator said with his mouth full and gesturing contently with his fork. I shrugged, taking a casual sip from my cup and hoping he wasn't going to ask how come I could afford it. It was enough how much I myself hated this undignified lifestyle I'd been forced into lately and I wished to be spared of having to see Ciel's disgust at it as well.

"So, what else can you tell me about the spider demon? What else do you know?" I asked, partly to drive the conversation away from the topic I so much wanted to avoid and partly because I needed all the information I could get on Hafsa. He probably knew all there was to know about me, while I was completely in the dark as far as he was concerned.

"There isn't much to tell past what I already did tell you," the investigator replied thoughtful," Normally most demons are reckless, overconfident of their superiority in respect to the world of humans, therefore easy to study, but not Hafsa. It seems that the spider demon has always been sneaky and careful, kept to himself mostly so to speak. Apparently the only records are those referring to how he can be destroyed and such…"

 _Perhaps because passing as a demon-hunting priest for the last hundreds of years has given him access to the archives and so he was conveniently able to dispose of all the information related to himself, or at least of all the stuff he could get his hands on._ To sum it up, just as I'd feared, we had almost nothing on him, except one piece of information out of which half was a complete mystery.

"What's the matter?" the boy interrupted my musings. "You seem thoughtful all the sudden"

I nodded, slowly spinning the coffee cup between my hands. "It's just that right now I can hardly see any course of action past running around aimlessly, hoping we won't get caught. I mean, the task at hand is anything but simple – we don't have the other thing, the Pawn, we don't have any idea what that is. And even if we did… this might still prove quite complicated"

Ciel chewed on his lip. "Well, I don't think it's a chess piece, as the name would suggest. It must be some sort of tool, or a weapon. After all, the chess pieces are ultimately weapons, things one fights with, right? A pawn is rather insignificant in a game of chess, but although insignificant it is able to play an important role in certain circumstances. I suppose therefore that it probably is a powerful object, but humble in appearance, something easily overlooked maybe?"

"That is to say it could be any piece of crap… I take it you haven't looked the subject up in the NUIT database before you left," I guessed.

He shook his head. "I had no time for that. I suppose we'll have to access the Vatican database from elsewhere. I know all the churches where we can have access to-"

I snorted."Ciel, do you honestly think that Faustus hasn't already blocked your account and invalidated your ID, alerting the entire network about your betrayal? And if he hasn't done it yet it's only because he's waiting patiently for you to use your username and password so that he can instantly locate us"

The investigator frowned. "Suppose I could use Lizzy's username and password then," he mused, a small smirk making its way across his face. "But we would still have to break into a church with a terminal connected to the system. It will be dangerous though, we cannot risk being seen…"

I looked past his shoulder and hardly resisted the impulse of jumping from my own seat, no longer paying any attention to what Ciel was saying. An unmistakable figure clad in a beige, dirty trench coat and donning an equally familiar slimy hat sat slumped at a table not far from ours, apparently studying the menu in extreme concentration. _FUCK!_ I hastily pulled out a few bills from my wallet and placed them on the table under the ashtray, then proceeded to down the last of my coffee as casually as I could manage.

"What?" Ciel asked, suddenly alert too, almost dropping his fork.

"We're leaving. Krech is here," I whispered, not taking my eyes off the man. He did not dare move, for now, but surely he must have been watching us carefully. I had been so right not to trust him after all.

"Fuck!" the boy whispered, his face paling all the sudden.

"Fuck indeed," I agreed, then stood up, changing my mind as I felt the Smith&Wesson pressed tightly against my stomach. "On a second thought, wait here for a bit please. I think I'll have a word with this nice gentleman first…"

I sauntered casually to where Krech sat, shrouded in his stinking trench coat and still studying the menu with extreme interest and I plopped into a chair right next to him. He looked up at last and then, for the first time, I noticed that his eyes were in fact a bright yellow, with catlike pupils. _Not human at all…_ How the hell could I miss that the first time I'd met him?

"Well, well, Mr. Michaelis, fancy seein' ye here," the creature drawled, with a clear note of irony. I didn't remember giving him my name, but what do you know, he was an informed fellow. Of course he was. "Is there anything I can do for ye?"

 _The bastard is taking me lightly!_ And if anything, Paquar-Rah seriously objected to being taken lightly, especially by a low breed like this one. Suddenly I wanted nothing else but to crush this slimy disgusting bug under my boot. But maybe I could make some use of him, I told myself.

"Mr. Krech, do you know what I have on me right now?"

He slowly put down the menu, bringing his hands together and intertwining his fingers thoughtfully. "Could it be that ye have something of value? Something a certain someone might be very interested in? Interested enough to put a price on yer head, and the fine lad's over there…" he croaked.

"Wrong," I replied smiling, propping my chin in the heel of my palm. "I have a gun. And I shall feel compelled to use it if you refuse to do exactly what I shall tell you to"

Krech threw a quick glance around the restaurant, there were maybe around twenty people scattered randomly at the tables, having coffee or breakfast, completely unsuspecting of the potential danger they were in. "Ye wouldn't do it, now would ye, Mr. Michaelis? Open fire in a public place, what with all these innocent folks around, risk drawing attention onto yourself like that…" The yellow eyes watched me with malice and the assuredness of one who had discovered their opponent's bluff.

"Wrong again, Mr. Krech," I replied calmly. My hand slid down under the table and pulled out the gun from my belt. "Tell me, are you aware of _who_ I really am?" I asked, just as casually, before I promptly shoved the muzzle into his side. "Or did this 'certain someone' who happened to put a price on my head forget to mention it to you?"

The creature frowned, but nodded. "Well then, you can easily imagine that I won't hesitate to slaughter all these innocent people and then waltz out of here like nothing's happened if that's what it will take to get me and my friend out of here alive. But it won't matter, I suppose, because when that happens you will be dead already"

Grinning, I gripped his arm and he flinched. "So if you don't want that to happen, you will get us out of here and to a safe place where your new employer cannot find us!" I motioned for Ciel to pick up the backpack I'd left behind and join us, while Krech fidgeted, growing more and more uncomfortable. Oh, hadn't he bitten off way more than he could chew…

"Well? What's it going to be?"

The informer pulled out a handkerchief and hastily wiped his brow under the slimy hat. "I-I don't care if ye have a gun or somethin'!" he stammered eventually. "There is no way out! None! I've already made the call, so they must be waiting for ye outside! They wouldn't make a mess of it in here like ye would, apparently," he spat, more determinedly this time, "but they'll grab ye the moment ye set foot out of this place! There's no escapin' the spider's net and ye should know this much, Mr. Michaelis…"

His tone had become venomous and his eyes narrowed to thin slits. Ciel glanced worriedly between the two of us and gulped at the man's last words. But I for one had no intention of letting some scum breed like Krech intimidate me, or escape me for that matter. I had no doubt that Mr. Krech was a slippery bastard by nature and I was going to use that to our advantage for the moment.

"Well, isn't that unfortunate?" I replied, gripping his arm even tighter. "And you've only got yourself to blame for it, Mr. Krech, because now there's no chance you will get out of this alive! Not after I paid you a bloody fortune for that shit of a room of yours and you betrayed me!"

The breed glared at me and a nasty sort of hiss left his dry lips, but I could feel him trembling. "I-I reckon we could slip through the back…" he grumbled, making a move to stand from his chair.

"Well, I'm glad we finally understand each other. Please lead the way, Mr. Krech"


	18. Chapter 18

Krech pushed his chair back and stood slowly, wrapping the trench coat better around himself. His stale stench drifted towards my nose as he stirred, utterly repulsive and I could clearly smell the fear in it. But I could not let myself be distracted by such details, I had to keep a very close eye on his movements and make sure he wasn't trying to slip away from us. A plan began to form in my mind the very moment I stood to follow, taking the backpack from Ciel. According to it, the scum breed now walking ahead of us was pretty much doomed.

The informant led the way as inconspicuously as possible through the double doors of the restaurant's kitchens and we followed quietly. I still gripped the Smith&Wesson, now concealed in the pocket of my jacket, ready to shoot on the spot should he have tried anything funny. Oddly enough, the people inside didn't pay us any attention, in fact they didn't as much as throw us a single glance and I suspected some of Krech's magic tricks must have been at work. This sort of glamour or whatever it was must have come in handy to someone who wanted to be able to sneak in and out of places without being noticed. _Sadly for him, it has not worked with me…_

The back door opened into a narrow alley filled with discarded bottles and overflowing dumpsters. Something stirred as my boot accidentally kicked an empty beer can and I realised that the place was being watched. It was more of a gut feeling than an actual observation, but I had learned long ago to trust my instincts more than anything else. And so, Faustus' men probably had the place surrounded. Well, that was too bad…

"Wait a moment," I said, halting my steps just past the door. Krech turned, looking expectant but clearly unaware of what was going on.

"Sebastian? What's wrong?" Ciel instantly wanted to know, throwing a wary glance around, but I placed a reassuring hand onto his shoulder, with a light smile, while my other hand left the semiautomatic gun and fumbled with the wallet instead. Luckily, I still had plenty of money from the previous night. It was rather sad to see them all go so quickly and perhaps it was somewhat of a foolish move too, but it had to be done.

"Nothing's wrong. Just that Mr. Krech here did us a big favor by helping us escape and it would be rude of us not to repay it properly, that's all," I replied gently, pulling out a generous number of bills and handing them to the informant. The boy's eyes widened at the sight, no doubt calculating the amount I was thus parting with and I could feel the dreaded money question coming my way with absolute certainty now, but Krech simply snatched them with a long fingered, dirty nailed hand, licking his lips greedily.

Now with the corner of my eye I could see a clear movement at the end of the alley – someone was coming. A man. I needed not look at him fully to know who he was. His steps were feline, almost gracious as he drew nearer, slowly but surely, his cold, calculating golden eyes trained on us. Not on me alone, since he seemed to observe his informant with equal interest. And with clear displeasure.

"Faustus!" Ciel murmured, frantically gripping my sleeve. "But he seems to be alone…? I can see no one else with him"

 _That's because he doesn't need anyone else, he is completely confident that he can defeat me on his own._ In a blink of an eye my hand shot to my pocket and pulled out the Smith&Wesson, firing without a second thought. But I must have hesitated, because I could clearly see the round hitting the spider demon's shoulder and left arm instead of his chest. _Fuck!_ In less than a second I grabbed Ciel and in one jump we were up onto the roof of the neighboring building. Without a single glance back, I kept on running, jumping, eager to move away from that place before Faustus could pick our scent and set in pursuit. I even ignored the blood curdling scream which resounded down in the alley soon after our hasty departure. Pressed tightly against me, the petite investigator flinched violently, but he said nothing.

* * *

Slowly, with much difficulty, I managed to open one eye and look around. My vision was blurry as hell, but my senses were gradually coming back. I realised I was lying face down onto some hard roof boards, in a puddle of something sticky and there was a metallic taste of blood in my mouth. The sun was setting on the horizon, therefore I must have lied there in that state for more than a few hours. With a groan I managed to haul myself up on all fours and shook my head. _What the fuck?_

"Sebastian!" Ciel panted beside me, struggling to get me up into a sitting position. "I thought… I thought…"

Before I could ask what the fuck had happened to me, a violent coughing fit shook my ribcage and I spit blood (or better said more blood), dark and mixed with something which looked like a blackened tissue. In a daze, I found myself wondering if I wasn't, by any chance, coughing my lungs out.

"Here, you had this stuck in the back of your neck," the boy said, holding up a miniscule yellowish wooden spike, very similar to a toothpick, the tip covered in blood. "He must have thrown it as you jumped up… It did not take effect immediately, but when it did, well, that was one nasty fall"

I eventually looked up – Ciel looked positively crestfallen and the hand holding Faustus' spike was scraped and dirty. "You were out cold for quite a while, you know," he went on, softly, "I thought… I thought this was it" _Well, for all I know, this might still 'be it'…_ I sat back from the mess I'd made and wiped my mouth with my sleeve, still panting. I was weak from all the blood loss and my head spun.

"At least now we know that he doesn't take you lightly," the investigator pointed, digging into his pocket and pulling out his cigarette pack. He lit a spliff and gently placed it between my lips. "Here, a drag might do you good"

I closed my eyes as the scented, soothing smoke filled my lungs, or what was left of them, anyway. "Well he did poison me rather effectively, while I failed to give him as much as a proper gunshot, Ciel. So I don't know whether how he takes me is really that important anymore," I grumbled weakly. "I don't know if he hasn't picked our trail yet or how close he is, but sure as hell I can't go anywhere right now, not in this condition." _Or how long I will last without a proper feeding and I am in no condition to hunt either…_

"Sebastian, why won't you let me help you?" the boy murmured, his small hand rising to cup my cheek. "Even a little of my blood could-"

"Oh, I see! I see it now, very clearly…" The sudden realization was both a blessing and a curse, since knowing what was going on didn't provide a solution as well. My head was beginning to hurt.

"What? What do you see?" he asked, alert, his grip on me tightening.

"I see now that Faustus is using my bloodlust to break us apart. The sudden thirst I felt last night, after we had sex, that must have been his doing, his magic. And now this – he must think that if the poison doesn't kill me, at least it will make me kill you, or make me try to kill you, at any rate… either way, he wants us separated for some reason"

Ciel snorted, thoughtfully, taking another drag from the almost burned out spliff. "' _Divide and conquer_ ', that's been known to work. He's worked up a strategy I see…"

"I told you, Ciel, the spider demon is not stupid. He's more insightful than you can imagine and he knows exactly what he's doing. Always calculating his next move and he doesn't leave anything at random, if it can be helped"

"Well, we're not stupid either! That thing with Krech, all that money you gave him, you did it on purpose so that Faustus would kill him, didn't you? So he'd look like a traitor," the investigator pointed, tossing away his cigarette bud. He didn't seem to blame me this time, though. I hoped this wasn't just because Krech hadn't been human, but because he'd finally started to figure out how things were.

"Krech was a dangerous pawn in Faustus' little war game and I didn't want him alive and sniffing our trail, especially not if he could be disposed of so easily. In fact, the more of his pawns we take out, the better. We should be thankful he hasn't involved Finny and Mey-Rin in this hunt, now _that_ would have sucked significantly"

* * *

In the end I had to do something, because just sitting there wasn't going to accomplish anything. With quite a bit of effort I hauled myself to my feet, doing my best to ignore the dizziness and the nausea washing over me. I looked down at myself – the front of my t-shirt was bloodstained and I realised I must have looked like hell. How the fuck was I supposed to hunt like this?

We descended from the roof just as it was getting dark, hoping I'd get lucky somehow. Sadly, all I could get my hands on was a bony stray dog, which went with a pathetic yelp and made a more than disgusting early dinner, leaving a horrible aftertaste. I would have gladly had a beer to wash it down, but I had no money left – disposing of Krech had been an expensive affair.

"I'm hating this more and more…" I grumbled, staggering on, while Ciel trotted beside me anxiously, carrying the backpack which had become too much for me. Hell, I almost wished I could just give up and die.

"It's not too far from here and it will be closing time soon," the petite investigator pointed. "So as soon as the priest leaves we could just-"

"Ciel, I don't think that breaking into a church is a good idea right now-" I tried to cut him off. I just wanted to be able to lie down and rest somewhere, I really didn't need any more excitement for the time being. But of course, Ciel had other ideas and he was determined to see them brought to fulfillment, therefore he immediately launched himself in a relentless speech about how we should not waste any more time in taking action towards our purpose, etc. _Pfffftt…_ _how tiresome_

* * *

I pushed myself in carefully through the broken window, somewhat surprised at the lack of security. But it was only a church, after all. The back rooms were always simple and austere, with nothing of value in sight. I helped Ciel up through the opening as well, with half a mind to tell him we had vandalized the place for nothing, but I momentarily lacked the energy even for that.

The investigator however knew exactly what he was looking for. He dug out a laptop I had failed to notice, hidden behind some sort of ornament, and pressed the start button. The screen came to life, the bright light shattering the utter darkness dwelling in the room. I dropped into a chair next to him, propping my head in my hands wearily.

"Aaaand… it's alive!" Ciel announced victoriously, a wide grin stretching his mouth. "I knew Lizzy would not bother to change her password, although the internal procedures manuals require it to be changed every month. So predictable, pfft… here we go – pawn… pawn…"

Slowly but surely, I drifted off to sleep. My eyes closed at their own accord, my limbs refused to obey me any longer and eventually my head hit the hard wooden desk with an undignified thud. Whatever, I was much too tired to care. _Soon enough, you will pay for your sins, crow demon. Your wings will rot and your bowels will burn. Soon you shall suffer all the horror of this world…_

"… a religious order founded in fifteenth century. They were not monks or priests, but still considered soldiers of the Church. Otherwise they were allowed to marry, have children and live worldly lives-… Sebastian! Are you paying any attention?" the boy shook me awake and for a moment I was completely confused, having no idea where I was and what the hell was going on.

"What? What?" I asked groggily and he sighed.

"I was saying that I actually found something within the database. The only reference to anything called 'pawn' is this – the Pawns were a religious order founded in fifteenth century by the Church in the express purpose of fighting demons and performing particularly complicated or dangerous exorcisms. The Pawns were an elite force said to possess unusual abilities and fighting skills which were passed from generation to generation by blood, which is why a detailed archive of all the descendants ever born from the bloodlines of the initial Pawns was kept. There!" he said, pointing at the screen. "The only problem is that, according to these records, the last Pawn died about a hundred years ago…"

I lifted my head to look at the intricate genealogic trees now filling the laptop screen, names upon names of people who no longer existed. Men and their sons, wives and dates of marriage, everything had been carefully inscribed by the archiving monks throughout centuries. Then their grandsons and so on, an implacable development of destiny, branching out with countless twigs, many meant to dry before they could spring any leaves of their own. Indeed, many Pawns seemed to not have reached even the age of twenty.

"But this is odd," Ciel mused. "Faustus must have had access to these records too and he must know that the Pawn bloodlines are all dead. Why is he still looking for the Pawn, or _a_ Pawn then?"

"Because this archive sucks and he knows it," I grumbled in reply, my head dropping back onto the hard surface." The Pawn blood is of the essence ultimately, but look at it, all I see here is wives and marriage. No children out of wedlock? Unaccounted for, I assume, but excluded nevertheless… And no girls either. Do you expect me to believe that not a single daughter was ever born in these families, only boys? Obviously, since only the boys were trained to fight, I suppose nobody gave a fuck about the girls."

The investigator pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing. "So the Pawn he seeks is a person… That's not very helpful, I guess"

"That explains why he has been investigating the bloodlines of everyone within the NUIT – even yours," I remembered. "But all he's got so far were negative results, I think… he said something about it after those breeds marked you"

"After… they marked me?" the boy murmured weakly. He then said something else, but I could no longer hear anything as darkness took me once more.


	19. Chapter 19

I anticipated the blinding sunlight even before it actually stung my eyes in a most unpleasant manner. I instinctively jerked my head away from the nuisance, my arm shooting up protectively to cover my face. The light was instantly gone, but the heat remained. I was warm all over, but to my surprise it was a fuzzy sort of warmness, unlike the scorching desert Hafsa had promised in my dreams, again and again.

My brain worked slowly, but the wheels turned nevertheless. Where the hell was I? My cautious fingers explored, encountering the smoothness of fresh sheets and the wooly texture of a blanket. A nice, cozy bed then, I concluded. But why the hell was I in a nice, cozy bed? Unless I was in some hospital, which would have been bad (how could I possibly explain my lungs or lack thereof, together with other particular aspects which might have popped out at a medical examination?), or the spider demon had captured me (us?) and taken me back to the NUIT base (or one of them anyway, since sunlight pointed to the fact that I couldn't have been underground). But why would he bother keeping me alive though? Nope, we couldn't have been captured, not yet anyway.

I took a deep breath and opened my eyes at last. The room I currently found myself in was small and tidily kept, looking like a regular bedroom, if a bit on the austere side. The furniture was of simple black wood and the empty walls were painted a clean white. Plain pale blue drapes hung onto the large window which allowed plenty of light to pour inside.

I sat upright, pushing off the much too warm duvet and glanced down at the unfamiliar pajamas I was wearing - silky, striped and with neatly pressed lapels. Hell, I remembered seeing my late grandfather with something similar on. _Definitely shouldn't have laughed at him at the time…_ I was alone in the room but I could clearly pick up Ciel's scent nearby, getting closer even, fact soon confirmed by the door being slammed open unceremoniously. I couldn't but stare wide-eyed as the petite investigator waltzed in with a tray which he carefully placed onto the nightstand, a smug grin plastered onto his childish face. The smell of fresh chicken soup wafted pleasantly towards my nose and I eyed the bowl hungrily while Ciel plopped down on the bed next to me.

"You gave me quite a fright there, Sebastian, passing out like that!" he pointed quite casually and without any prior introduction, but the look in his eyes spoke volumes. He'd crapped out, obviously. "And then you were out cold for three whole days!"

 _Three days? I must have been worse than I'd thought…_ I drew a deep breath, licking my lips. They were dry. "Ciel… where are we? And what the hell have you done to me?" I asked quietly, pointing down at the horrific, ominous outfit. Yes, ominous – nothing good could possibly ever happen to someone wearing such an abomination.

He sighed. "Well I for one couldn't drag you up on the rooftops, now could I? So I had to call for help, obviously, but don't worry, we're safe here. We're at my confessor's place. Faustus's already looked for me here a couple of days ago from what I gathered, but they told him they hadn't heard from me since Christmas. Anyway, Father Grey is quite sick and all, bedridden for three months now, not really up for visitors. The spider didn't bother too much with him…"

I blinked repeatedly – suddenly trying to process all that information hurt my head. I squeezed my eyes shut, pinching the bridge of my nose. Somehow I didn't have that much faith in this unexpected 'safe haven'…

"Here, you should eat before it gets cold," Ciel said, handing me the soup bowl. "I know it's not… exactly what you need right now but until you're fit to go hunting on your own I suppose it will have to do…" He wiped his hands onto his oversized t-shirt which read **CL RULZ** in big, white letters against the black and smiled lightly. So he must have packed some spare clothes after all.

"CL?" I pointed incredulously, taking a spoonful of the chicken soup. It was delicious, actually and I was beyond doubt very hungry. So hungry that even this food would do.

"Yes. At least it doesn't sound so French that way," the boy explained seriously, in the mood for sharing some more of his exceptional wisdom with a profane like me. "You know 'ciel' is a French word, right? It means 'sky'"

"I happen to know, yes," I replied in between greedy slurps. "What's wrong with French though? Girls like French stuff, don't they?" _As far as my humble knowledge goes…_

The one blue orb was rolled blatantly in my direction. "Girls like syrupy crap stuff and pink ponies! You see, when you say 'Ciel' what comes to mind is something like blue skies over a garden full or roses, while 'CL' is like… concrete jungle badass. That sort of thing. Get it?"

 _Of course…_ Laughter bubbled in my throat and I very nearly sputtered in my soup. "Right…" I said, half-choking. "So how does 'Sebastian' sound?"

"Hmm…" Ciel pondered, thoughtfully. "Somewhere in between, I suppose"

* * *

"I take it you want your own clothes?" Ciel asked, popping his head inside the bathroom and reproachfully examining the pajamas I'd abandoned in a heap directly onto the floor before stepping into the shower. "They looked like all hell you know. And not just what you were wearing when we brought you here, but what I'd picked from your room for packing. You're an absolute mess, Sebastian, I can't fathom how the fuck you'd survived on your own before!"

 _Right… before the concept of being pestered has been taken to a whole new level for me…_ I scowled at my own reflection in the mirror and tossed the towel I'd dried my hair with. "Well what do you know, events have precipitated just before laundry day… And Ciel? Please keep in mind that I already have a mother and that I left home for a reason!" I hissed through gritted teeth. _For fuck's sake!_

"There you go, Hannah washed them," the boy replied, rolling his one eye at me with the air of a displeased parent. He placed the bundle of clothes on the edge of the sink and a pleasant, clean smell met my nose. The t-shirt on top of the pile even looked ironed.

I unwrapped the towel around my waist as well and proceeded to get dressed, ignoring the fact that Ciel wouldn't give me any privacy. "So who's Hannah?" I asked, half casually and half worriedly, because I knew it was a bad idea to involve other people in our fight with Faustus, if only for the mere reason that we were putting them in harm's way. Just because he'd searched the place once it didn't mean he would not return. "And how much does she know?"

The investigator shrugged slightly. "Hannah's alright, really. Besides, she's my confessor's niece and she's actively taken part in his research on the subject of Hafsa the spider demon. Actually, she has been keeping an eye on Faustus ever since… well ever since my parents died. I really wish they would have told me about this! But Hannah says I wasn't ready, that I'm still not ready, not even now… but well, since the Grimoire showed up they had no choice and I had to be told about this"

"Of course they didn't tell you, Ciel," I pointed, "you would have betrayed yourself and you would have only gotten yourself killed pointlessly. Your parents only wanted to keep you safe." He opened his mouth to protest but I went on before he could. "I told you, Faustus is more adept at reading people than you think. I take it you didn't leave a goodbye note when you left NUIT, but yet he was on your trail from the moment you walked out that door. How did he know? He read you, from the very moment you found out the truth about him he knew it too – even if you didn't say anything, even if you kept a blank face all along. Your emotions smell in a certain way,it takes someone with an incredible amount of self-control to fool _us_ "

Ciel scowled and pushed past me without reply, leading me down a corridor - towards the kitchens, I guessed. A pleasant smell of food – something rich and spicy, with plenty of meat - filled my nostrils and I inhaled deeply, even if it wasn't that kind of food I was craving for.

"So how much does this Hannah know?" I asked, my hand reaching for Ciel's shoulder and stopping him just as he was about to press the doorknob. "I mean, about me. What exactly did you tell her? Does she know _what_ I am?"

The boy pursed his mouth and shrugged. "You can imagine that I didn't tell her expressly, but she must have figured out by herself I guess, from the nature of your condition and the mere fact that you survived it in the first place. It was her I called when you most insensitively passed out on me and I didn't know what to do… But she didn't say or ask anything, it's alright" _Right, with an emphasis on 'most insensitively'…_

Oh well, that wasn't necessarily reassuring. After all, people who dedicated (and risked) their lives fighting demons could not have been too pleased to have a demon among them, or trust him. And why would they have trusted me? Just because I'd snatched the Grimoire right from under the spider demon's nose? That didn't mean anything, I could have very well had my own reasons and purposes, just like Grell Sutcliffe. Speaking of which (damn, I had all but forgotten about the guy completely), there was actually no telling if he and his minions weren't currently on our trail as well…

I couldn't repress a certain amount of nervousness as I walked into the kitchen behind Ciel. It was a small but pristine, well-organized space, which reinforced the whole feeling of comfort dwelling within the rest of the house, or at least as much as I'd seen of it. A young woman stood by the sink with her back turned and I flinched involuntarily, suddenly perceiving something oddly familiar. But then she turned and I realized, to my partial relief, that I had never seen her in my life.

"Sebastian, this is Hannah Anafellows," the investigator made the introduction and I nodded, unable to keep staring as she smiled lightly, in acknowledgement. Her face, with smooth and delicate features, was framed by long pale lavender hair reaching down to her waist and she was a bit on the petite side. But the most striking were her eyes, of a deep midnight blue shade I could swear I'd seen before. Even her scent was somehow known to me, as if it were a derivate tone of a known fragrance. _How very strange!_

"Nice to meet you, Sebastian," she said in a soft voice, pushing a mug of hot, steaming coffee towards me casually. "Ciel has told me a lot about you." Well, there was no telling if _that_ was a good thing, it probably wasn't… She seemed to study me briefly with a benevolent, mild curiosity, as if I were no more than an 'ordinary' guest. No, she clearly wasn't afraid of me, rather to my surprise I could sense the contrary. I could sense that she trusted me.

"Anyway," Ciel said, interrupting my observations, "Father Grey said something about helping us with our plan. You were right about the archives, Sebastian. The Pawn bloodlines may not be dead after all…" Suddenly, Hannah flinched at his words, almost inconspicuously, her breath hitching in her throat for the briefest moment. I pretended not to notice. "But he said something like he'll think about it, do you know what he meant, Hannah? What is there to think about?" _And I had no idea we had a plan…_

She cleared her throat, choking. "Well actually Ciel, my uncle thinks… and I think too, that this matter should not be dealt with hastily. It is dangerous and we don't know yet-"

"You mean to say that you and Father Grey are having doubts whether something should be done about it, generally speaking? Do you think we can just hide the Grimoire – and ourselves – forever and hope he won't find us, or a Pawn descendant for that matter? Faustus can be very patient if needed and he will not give up, Hannah! Not when there's so much at stake and he's so close to reaching his goal!" the boy jumped, before I got the chance to say anything to temper him.

"Ciel, we don't actually have that much of a plan right now, do we?" I pointed conciliatorily, "Even if we found a living descendant of the Pawns, we still wouldn't know what to do with the two 'things' yet. This information is probably contained somewhere within the Grimoire itself, but it will have to be studied carefully if we don't want the whole thing to backfire on us and actually help Faustus instead of destroying him. We need time to-"

"Except we don't know when he will be upon us! Time is a luxury we don't have!"

Hannah reached out shyly and placed her small hand onto the boy's shoulder, looking as if to pat him gently, but it was more like a hidden caress. Her eyes sought his gaze and bore into his with infinite sadness, yet affectionately. Even _lovingly_. "Ciel, please! Sebastian is right, we may know some things, but we clearly don't know as much as the spider demon. We can't rush and-"

But she didn't get to finish before Ciel tore himself free from her grasp and walked out of the room, slamming the door in his wake. What else was new, he hadn't thrown a tantrum in quite a while, now it probably seemed like a good time. Hannah collapsed on a chair, half burying her face in her hands.

"I'm sorry," I said, stuffing my hands in my pockets awkwardly."All this pressure and strain must have gotten to him, he… he isn't like that usually…"

"It's alright, it's just… I couldn't bear if anything bad happened to Ciel," she murmured, looking up at me with a faint, meek smile which told me that she knew exactly how he was usually like… And then it hit me like a rock, the deep blue of her eyes, the gentleness of her voice, the way she touched Ciel, the way she looked at him… and her scent, above all. I must have grown dull and stupid or something, not having been able to realize this from the first moment I'd laid eyes on her.

"You are Ciel's mother."


	20. Chapter 20

A long silence followed after I'd spoken. Hannah still sat with her face buried in her hands, while I spun the now almost cold coffee mug between my fingers awkwardly, not knowing what to say to fix my goof. I certainly should have kept my revelation to myself instead of expressing it out loud. _Damn me and my big mouth!_

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to…" I muttered at last, for lack of better words.

"For what? I suppose you're just… perceptive," she said, looking up at me. Her dark blue eyes were dry, but hollow, as if she'd already cried all her tears. "We were both being quite perceptive about each other, don't you think, Sebastian?" Her voice was soft, calm, without any trace of sarcasm.

"I guess…"

"You must think that I am a bad mother for abandoning Ciel in the first place. And even now, when he thinks his parents are dead, here I am, not saying anything. Not providing any comfort…"

Hannah was still quite young, I reckoned, although there was a sort of youthful, or rather ageless air about her which made it impossible to tell how old she was. But clearly she must have been very young when she'd had Ciel, I realised.

"Hannah, as you already know, I am a demon. Whatever your story is, _I_ won't be one to judge you," I said openly.

Hannah stood and calmly poured herself a cup of coffee from the filter before returning to the table, where she sat down again in front of me.

"Yes, but still… I know what you think. I was very young and yes, it was a mistake, but I would have kept him. I would have kept my baby, my own flesh and blood, no matter what. But not with the spider demon on my trail I couldn't." I blinked in confusion and she paused, as if to assess the effect of her words. "Have you not intuited that part as well?" A meek smile played on her lips, completely genuine and innocent, with no hidden meaning. This woman was speaking nothing but the truth.

"Yes, I am a descendant of one of the so called 'lost' Pawn bloodlines. I've always known he was looking for me, ever since I was a child. I'd been running and hiding, wearing fake identities up until my uncle, Father Grey, took me in his care. However, since I am a woman, I may or may not be what Faustus is after, but we have every reason to believe that my son is exactly what he is looking for."

I took a hurried sip of my own coffee, avoiding her gaze for the moment. The bastard Undertaker must have known this all along – that Faustus was in fact the spider demon Hafsa and that Ciel was the Pawn, the key to his destruction. That was why he'd been cursed to silence, but still, he could have given us more clues. And of course, if Ciel had listened to me and talked with his confessor sooner… maybe we would have had more time to think things through and come up with some sort of plan. I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed.

"I thought of the Phantomhives, they were my uncle's closest friends," Hannah went on, in the same even tone, "Rachel had just miscarried and the doctors had told her that she wouldn't be able to have any children… Ciel looked so much like her, the same blue eyes… and Vincent had dark hair… There was no reason for anyone to think that he wasn't their son. And I knew that Faustus had already investigated their lineage. And he never suspected it, they went to Italy for about two years, supposedly for research at the Vatican and they claimed that Ciel was born there."

"A good move," I observed. "To hide your son in plain sight, right under his nose. But dangerous too, Faustus could have caught wind of it eventually, he is after all quite perceptive himself. Just like he discovered that Rachel and Vincent Phantomhive had been investigating him. Ciel himself was almost killed as a result of this"

Hannah smiled again, lightly. "You're right and I suppose we should all be grateful to you, Sebastian," she said softly. "If you hadn't stolen the Grimoire when you did, it could have been a disaster"

I leaned back in my chair with a light snort. "Hannah, you've absolutely nothing to be grateful to me for. I did it all for my own _demonic_ sake, so to speak. Faustus had mentioned using the Grimoire as a means to wipe out all the demons in the world and that sadly includes me as well. As much as I might otherwise support the idea, it regards me directly and so I could not let him have it. And as I understood that he still seeks to destroy any demon which might pose a threat to his supremacy and domination, if there is a means to destroy him you should have no doubt that I _will_ pursue it."

"They say the devil is deceitful, but you are surprisingly honest, Sebastian Michaelis," Hannah said. "I read that in you from the very beginning. There is no hidden purpose within you and no evil intent. And you kept my son safe all this time, for that I am profoundly indebted to you. Especially since I know he can be a handful…"

Somehow that made me feel rather transparent, plain and unsophisticated and I suspected that for a demon her words should have been an insult. _That if demons actually cared about insults…_ Paquar-Rah clearly couldn't have cared any less.

"So, are you planning to tell Ciel the truth, now that it has come to this?" I asked, genuinely interested in shifting the topic away from me before it became any more uncomfortable.

She took a sharp breath, her hands clenching the untouched cup. "I know he will hate me when he will find out… But that's not my biggest concern. So far we only know that the 'Pawn and the Grimoire' are the tools to destroy the spider demon Hafsa, but we haven't figured out what that entails _exactly_. I mean what if… what if this ritual involves my son being sacrificed or something?"

I flinched, her face was suddenly white as a sheet. I had not taken this possibility into account, that the Pawn would probably have to be killed. _But still… why would it be this way? Is his blood needed? All of his blood?_ Blood. I needed blood myself and it was rather urgent, if I came to think of it. I fought to push the thought away and ignore the burning in my throat.

"I don't want my son to die, Sebastian, not for any demon, not if this whole world were to go straight to Hell. I won't let that happen," Hannah said simply, stating her iron determination. There was so much sheer strength in this fragile, seemingly helpless woman that I couldn't but wonder at it. ' _Not as much strength as there is in me though and I won't let myself die either, not if this whole world were go straight to Hell!'_ I heard the crow demon's distinctive voice in my mind - cold and imperative - and for a brief moment I could glimpse the true pettiness and misery of having no one else but oneself to care and be cared about in the world.

"I know," I replied, mostly without thinking."I'm sure that if it comes to that we'll be able to find another way…" Although, why the hell was I so sure about that, I couldn't say.

"Please go and get Ciel, dinner is ready," Hannah said gently, sitting up and collecting her cup from the table. "I'll have to go check on Father Grey soon and take down his dinner, so there'll be only the two of you. Afterwards… " she paused with her back turned on me, taking a deep breath. "Afterwards I shall tell him."

* * *

She didn't have to, not because of me anyway, I pondered as I padded down the hallway in the direction she'd pointed. I would have kept my mouth shut, for it wasn't my secret to tell. My human side felt bad for Hannah, from what I'd seen of Ciel I could only imagine that he wasn't going to take this well.

I opened the door to the ancient-looking study halfheartedly and instantly observed the petite investigator sulking in front of a laptop. He ignored me purposely, in a manner which I could only interpret as ominous. I let my gaze wander around the room, examining the innumerable piles of books and whatnot while I thought of something intelligent to say to 'appease the gods of war'. Obviously, nothing came to me.

"Hannah says dinner's ready. You should come," I announced without any prior introduction, hoping he wouldn't read anything on my face.

"And has she been saying that for the last half hour or something?" Ciel asked, not so subtly, still staring at the screen. _Has he been eavesdropping on us? Shit!_ I frowned. The last thing I needed was to find myself involved in some stupid family drama. There was nothing I hated more than family drama!

"No, we just talked, subsequent to your stormy exit," I replied casually. "You know that both Hannah and Father Grey are only trying to do what's best for everyone, in the safest way possible. Not that the application of any solution could exactly be described as safe, but… you know very well that Faustus is never reckless, he calculates his every step. So why wouldn't we?"

Ciel seemed to ponder for a moment, looking up at last. "Hmm… why wouldn't we… I see you are on _Hannah's_ side now," he said, scowling openly. "You're wasting your time though, I think it's me she wants to date"

 _Pheh! Right…_ "Frankly, I don't think so. See, Hannah is too old for you and she is clearly past the 'blue skies over a garden full or roses' thing, I think she'd much prefer a more... manly kind of man by her side. Like me, for example..." I ofered serenely, just for the sake of getting on his nerves.

"How sad, since you don't date…" the boy pointed dryly, pushing his chair away from the desk and standing up. _Certainly not someone who has such an obnoxious brat for a son!_

* * *

"Oh, what do you know, lasagna. That's _my_ favorite food," he pointed bluntly, motioning towards the two plates on the table. It was a quiet dinner. Ciel didn't say anything else, having resumed his sulking and once more I pitied Hannah for having to face his bad mood even before telling him the truth. Somewhere in between my own concerns about Faustus and the lack of physical satisfaction my meal provided (although it was absolutely delicious) I should probably have tried to lighten up the atmosphere and ease the tension, or at least do something to prepare him. Except that I was, as usual, awfully uninspired when it came to such things.

"Ciel, I have to go out tonight and Hannah said that she'll want to talk to you after dinner," I said eventually, because I had to say _something_.

The boy's gaze shot up instantly at my words and he looked terrified. "Sebastian, you can't go anywhere right now! What if… what if they find you? And you might be putting everything in danger! You're not planning-"

I held my hands up, defensively. "Look, I'm not going anywhere permanently, I'm not planning to leave you people, okay? The backpack with all my 'earthly possessions' stays here, as a sign of good faith, I won't be taking anything with me other than my wallet, because I might want a beer, you know, afterwards. And if anything should happen to me – though I most sincerely hope it won't - you have both the Grimoire and the… well you have Hannah and Father Grey to help you, either way you don't need me to bring this task to fulfillment"

Ciel's face dropped visibly and I could tell his old fear of being abandoned was gripping him again. "But-"

"Ciel, look – I have _certain needs_ and there's no way around them, okay?" I said, more gently this time. "If I don't do this, I'll be putting everyone in this house in danger, including you. This is the only way I can protect you from myself!" I reached across the table and cupped the side of his face. "After all, none of us can forget _what_ I am"

* * *

I sneaked out of the house in a hurry, already terrified of what I would find upon my return. Although I had no idea what kind of relationship Ciel and Hannah had in the first place, I didn't think he was going to understand what it had been like for her to have to give away her baby in order to protect him, after she'd been forced to live in fear and hiding all her life. After all, he was at that age when people find it easier to pass harsh judgments rather than to take the time and consider other points of view beside their own.

Father Grey's residence was somewhere in the suburbs, a modest but well-kept parish house. I left it behind as soon as I could, before making sure there wasn't anything suspicious around. I couldn't help thinking about what Faustus was doing now, where he was lurking in search for his prey, how long before he would discover our hideout. Krech was gone but surely he must have had other informants?

I had walked for a long while towards the center and its always crowded nightclubs, caught up in my thoughts, before I realised I was being followed. In the absence of proper feeding, my sharp demon senses were clearly failing me. At first I'd thought it was just an impression, stirred by my own paranoia, but no – a shadow was silently slipping behind me, following my trail. Just what I needed, weak as I still was, a fight.

"I know you know I'm here, sweet _Bassy_ , there's no point in pretending you don't," a voice eventually drawled behind me and I stopped dead in my tracks, disgusted to the bone. _Grell Sutcliffe_

The red haired breed suddenly jumped, landing right in front of me and blocking my path. "Now _Bassy_ , I have to say this – you are certainly fuckable but I don't get you at all. Only a little while ago you were working for that priest, Claude Faustus, no, you were his fucking lap dog to put it bluntly. And now he's out to get you. I 'listen to the news' too, you know?" he said. "So, taking into account that you robbed me of my most valuable possession, I think you at least owe me an explanation..."

I snorted. "Well, if you are so well informed, then you must know that 'the priest Claude Faustus' is in fact Hafsa the spider demon. Right?"

Grell stared, suddenly dumbstruck, his spectacles sliding down his nose a bit. " _What?_ " he more mouthed than asked loudly.

"I take that as a 'no'," I said, stepping closer. At this point I knew that the green eyed breed was too intrigued to draw the chainsaw, if he had it on him. "That means you don't work for him, am I right?" Although, well... why would he?

He shook his head and cackled, seemingly recovered from the initial shock. "Sweet _Bassy_ , I work for no one but myself. But could it be that you finally realised what's going on? Indeed I have heard , actually more than just _heard_ of Hafsa the spider demon, but I had no idea that he'd disguised himself as that fucking priest. What _you_ don't seem to know is that Hafsa is a pariah, even among demons, for he seeks to destroy us all and 'inherit the Earth', so we seek to destroy him first. Now, I had the Grimoire and I had the Pawn boy, but you had to come and ruin everything… that was not nice of you, Bassy"

I couldn't believe it. Their ritual, the mark on Ciel's body, now it all made sense. "Grell," I replied calmly, "you may or may not believe me when I say this – and with all sincerity I couldn't care any less if you do - I will kill Hafsa the spider demon, if it's the last thing I do!"


	21. Chapter 21

"Awfully sure of yourself, aren't you, sweet _Bassy_?" Grell concluded, after taking his (equally sweet) time to assess my statement. "You have already made the proof of your total and utter ignorance before and you're making it again, I fear. Do you think Hafsa will die so easily? Or perhaps you think yourself invincible? Either way, I find this confidence of yours in the matter quite foolish!"

I stuffed my hands in my pockets, sighing. Of course it must have looked that way. "You are wrong," I said at last. "I may have made my share of mistakes, but that was before my full awakening. Now I have the book and I have the boy while Hafsa has nothing, so why wouldn't I succeed? Besides, you fail to understand me. I have been alive for millennia and I've had foes before – and they are all dust now"

Grell rubbed his chin, thoughtfully, as he circled me, circumspectly. "Dust you say… I don't know what to make of this, really. Even assuming you are not as foolish as you look and sound right now, there could be another problem… How do I know that once you've killed Hafsa you will not pursue his dream of supremacy yourself and destroy the rest of us? You know, I couldn't help noticing that you rather enjoyed making a meal out of my minions. How could I possibly trust you?"

 _What a pain in the ass, just the last thing I needed!_ How could I convince him? I just wanted to be left alone, I had no need for his help or anything. And I surely didn't give a damn whether he could 'possibly trust me' or not.

"I'm not asking you to trust me, Grell Sutcliffe," I said simply. "In fact, I know no reason why you should, but I am a simple fellow, really. And all I care about is to keep myself alive, by any means possible. Right now the only means possible is through Hafsa's destruction, otherwise you can be sure I would not bother with him"

Grell seemed mildly surprised at my words. "Oh, I see. You'd have me believe that you have no ambitions of your own then, _crow demon_ … Perhaps you don't." He paused, stuffing his long nailed hands in the pockets of his crimson coat. "But I will be watching you, be sure of that." Suddenly he watched me intently, muddy green eyes keen and predator-like."Should you decide to go back on your word, I will come for you, Sebastian Michaelis, for my foes have suffered the same fate as yours!" With that, he leaped up and vanished, leaving me all alone in the narrow alley.

_Fair enough_

* * *

Well, one could have said that the evening had gone overall okay. I had managed to escape Grell by more or less convincing him that I had both our interests covered (sort of) and I had eventually fed quite to my satisfaction. Not that I could enjoy it too much while I'd been constantly plagued with thoughts of the near future. Of the _very_ near future in fact.

Hannah opened the door for me and I slipped inside the house quietly, after casting a cautious glance around to make sure I hadn't been followed. There was no one in sight. Rather anxiously, I tried to read the young woman's face for clues of what may have transpired, but there was nothing, she appeared to be perfectly calm and composed.

"Ciel's in his room, he said he needed to be by himself for a bit," she said, carefully locking the door behind me. "Can you please go check on him? And when you're ready please come and join us, Father Grey would like to speak to the two of you."

 _This doesn't sound good…_ But what did I expect, really? I padded warily and almost reluctantly towards my investigator's room, mentally bracing myself for the worst. A great part of this wasn't my problem (or my fault) though, I told myself as I pressed the knob carefully. Ciel was sitting on his bed, one leg tucked beneath him, staring blankly at the wall. He was ashen. The boy's gaze trailed slowly towards where I stood and he measured me, seemingly disinterested. Again, I knew I should have said something, like 'what happened' or something, but I failed to. I argued with myself that there was no point in pretending I was unaware, or surprised, or whatever by what was going on. Better get it over with.

"You know," he said at last, his voice choked but with a clear trace of venom. "No, you _knew_. From the first moment you've laid eyes on Hannah, you _knew_!" Now, he was giving slightly too much credit to my insightfulness.

"I didn't-"

"I saw how you were looking at her!" he cut me off, a scowl deepening on his face. _Just_ _great, he's going to take it out on me!_ "At first I thought you just found her attractive or something, but then afterwards, thinking about it, I realised that you looked rather puzzled, surprised!" the boy added with a blatant snort.

I let out a defeated sigh. "Okay, okay. I did feel something strange when I saw her for the first time, something… familiar. But I only thought I must have met her before, or even… fed on her perhaps. I'm not in the habit of overanalyzing my prey and as long as I make them forget they ever met me there's no reason why I should remember meeting them. But when I saw the way she looked at you, talked to you, touched you… then I figured it out. And she did not deny it when I asked"

His gaze dropped and his jaw tightened, ever so slightly. "And you still did not tell me!"

"Ciel, I may be a high and mighty demon now, but I'll have you know I was raised in a family where I've learned from a very young age that shit is better left unstirred, if you know what I mean," I replied promptly and seriously, meaning every word. "And besides, it wasn't _my_ secret. If that makes you feel any better, I did advise Hannah to tell the truth though."

The single, deep blue orb fixed me again and this time Ciel looked utterly perplexed, such that it got me wondering what it was that I had said this time. " _Shit is better left unstirred?_ How-… Are you telling me that this is your life philosophy, Sebastian? Is that why you never had any relationship as a human and now you're doing the same with the – I imagine very convenient - excuse of being a demon? Is that why you would never get involved in anything unless you have no choice, because you don't want to _stir the shit_?!" he nearly shouted, jumping from the bed.

I felt a pounding headache slowly but surely coming my way and I uselessly pressed my fingers against my forehead as hard as I could. "Exactly. And this is a good example of what I'm talking about!" I pointed dryly.

"Well that makes it bloody clear why you and the fucking crow demon were molded into one, doesn't it? You two have the same fucking mindset!"

 _Oh well… I suppose that's not entirely inaccurate..._ But still, I liked to believe there were at least some differences between my human side – the man I had been and still was to some extent – and Paquar-Rah who cared for nothing and no one but his own survival and his own issues. Ciel had sunken back down into the mattress, sulking, but probably secretly pleased after he'd shoved the 'ultimate truth' or something at me.

"Well, just to conclude on this," I said, taking a deep breath and hoping he was done expressing himself for now, "many thanks for throwing all this shit in my face like it's my fault, although it clearly wasn't my fault, or my problem, or _my fucking secret_ to confess, in fact it wasn't _any of my fucking business_ at all! All I can hope is that you weren't an equal asshole with Hannah as you were with me right now!" Pointing that out determinedly, I turned on my heels and stepped out of the room, slamming the door in my wake.

I went into the study, where I'd spotted a bottle of old whisky earlier. To my relief, it was still there, surrounded by matching crystal glasses on a silvery tray.I walked straight to it and grabbed the bottle without too much examination, then proceeded to fill my glass to the brim. The amber liquid had a rich, warm flavor, but I couldn't be bothered to take my time and enjoy it – I simply downed half of it in one gulp.

There was absolutely nothing wrong with the 'don't stir the shit' approach, I told myself as the strong liquor burned my throat on its way down. Of course Ciel wouldn't understand – the Phantomhives had loved him (and I strongly suspected heavily spoiled him) like the child they could never have themselves, while Hannah had made a terrible sacrifice to protect him. Yes, he had been loved unconditionally, not pressured or burdened with expectations, or humiliated, or told he should have never been born by his own flesh and blood.

I slumped into a nearby chair, my fingers curled around the glass, as bad memories of my childhood and adolescence came over me, their poison only slightly diminished by the passage of time. I could feel the familiar knot in my throat and the tension in the back of my neck, fueling my headache and I blinked away the moisture in my eyes. _That was the last thing I needed right now! What the fuck!_

"What the hell, you're not crying, are you?"

With my peripheral vision I noticed my investigator leaning awkwardly on the doorframe and staring at me. "Fuck you!" I grumbled lowly in reply, downing the rest of my drink. I hated that he'd seen me like this, this… vulnerable. The crap piling on my head lately was probably getting to me. More than ever, I felt my human weakness, in such contrast with Paquar-Rah's stern resilience. Demons never faced emotions that threw them out of balance or that made them second guess themselves, no. There were unmovable in their wickedness, in their hatred of the world and in whatever wishes they had. Claude Faustus would have surely laughed to see me like this.

"Did something bad happen to you, Sebastian?" The boy's voice was soft now, soothing, possibly apologetic. Of course, he wasn't as blunt as one might have thought, just needed to throw his usual tantrums and let off steam (not that _that_ was an excuse). He slowly walked up to where I sat and put his arms around me, pressing my forehead into the fabric of his t-shirt. His body was warm and his scent strangely comforting. I didn't pull away.

"A lot of bad things happened to me," I murmured, suddenly feeling overly exhausted.

* * *

"Do you know what Father Grey wants to talk to us about?" I asked. It was late, I wanted to drop into bed and just sleep, the hell with everything else.

"Yes. He has figured out how to use the Grimoire… and me," Ciel replied in a low voice, as he led me towards his former confessor's sickroom. "He already told me and Hannah, earlier this evening, after taking some time to think. Now it's time for you to know as well."

I followed him quietly, not asking why he hadn't mentioned it before. I could only suppose it was a sort of payback for keeping Hannah's secret from him.

"Ciel, you will grow up one day – hopefully – and you will then come to realize that things are never exactly black or white," I pointed with a sigh, effectively managing to sound like the oldest of farts.

"Aren't you wise, Sebastian… I hope you will realise the same thing," the petite investigator replied as he pressed the knob.

Father Grey was older than I'd thought, but his eyes betrayed a still vivid spirit and his voice was clear, yet surprisingly gentle. This was a true servant of God, I caught myself thinking, totally unrelated to the subject. ' _What do I care about the servants of God? They are nothing to me!'_ Paquar-Rah needed to point out from the dark recesses of my mind, bringing my focus once more onto the current matters. I cared about nothing but myself, I was thus bitterly reminded.

"….spell using a significant quantity of the Pawn's blood is one option. The other, far more complicated and I daresay riskier under many aspects is that Hafsa be contained by the Pawn," the priest was saying.

I blinked, utterly confused. " _Contained?_ What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means basically a form of ingestion," Ciel explained, "I would take Hafsa into my body and contain him, just like you contained Paquar-Rah. I would become one with him and thus control him indefinitely-"

" _What?_ " I stared, dumbstruck, letting my puzzled gaze trail from Ciel's determined expression to Father Grey's calm one. Beside them, Hannah looked resigned, glancing down at her pale hands resting limply in her lap.

"But surely… you are not taking any of these options into consideration, are you?"

They were, actually.

"Hannah, you said you wouldn't let anything happen to Ciel! Now you are willing to let him die? Or worse, _become a demon_?" I pleaded, stricken odd by the fact that I seemed to care more about the boy than the two of them did. _And why should I care?_ _All I want is to see this done… one way or the other. Although, if Ciel is to 'contain' Hafsa, I would probably have to do something about it…._ _After all, it's not like he could_ control _the spider demon_

"She doesn't have a say in this, it's my decision," the boy replied sternly.


	22. Chapter 22

Ciel had locked himself in the bathroom. I couldn't believe that once more I had been left to deal with him, after both Hannah and Father Grey had reached the conclusion that it was, ultimately, _his decision_ on how to approach the whole Faustus matter. Of course, Father Grey probably found that he could not force his lifetime goal of destroying Hafsa the spider demon upon an innocent youth and Hannah had been caught in the middle, her own guilt of having given her son away now preventing her from being against his wishes. But really, what decision could Ciel make? He was barely nineteen, for fuck's sake!

"Hey!" I shouted, knocking on the door again."You know hiding in there won't solve anything, might just as well come out and we'll talk it over, okay?"

"I'm not hiding, I just need to be alone to think for a bit," the boy grumbled from inside," That's why I needed to lock myself in here"

"Well, fuck! Couldn't you lock yourself somewhere else? I want to use the bathroom!"

"There is another bathroom upstairs, stop making such a drama!"

I tsked. _Well, I guess that didn't work…_ "So what _is_ your decision anyway? Do you even know what you're going to do?" I slumped against the door, waiting for Ciel's reply. Whatever he had decided, it wasn't good.

"Well it's obvious, isn't it?" he said after a while, fact which led me to believe he hadn't actually given it too much thought before. "I won't sacrifice myself – you can bet I'm not _that_ much of a hero. But I must do something, so - like Father Grey said - I will contain the spider demon. I know it will be a handful, but you're here, Sebastian and your own experience will be very useful. You can teach me how to control the blood thirst and feed without hurting people too much. Right?"

 _Wrong_. If anything, this was even worse than the first option. "Ciel, it's not that simple. The blood thirst is not the major issue here, okay? The crow demon is a fairly simple fellow, all he wants is to survive, eat and be left alone. Hafsa on the other hand has an entirely different agenda, he wants a war and if you become one with him he will have his war!"

"If we're one he can't want what I don't want," the investigator pointed petulantly from the other side of the door.

 _As if the spider demon would let a child thwart his plans_. "Then he will make you want what he wants. After all, he wants supremacy over all the other demons and to destroy all those who dare oppose him. He will make you believe that this has been your purpose as well, all along, to protect humankind from demons, that this is what your parents fought for and died for. It will start for the right reasons and before you know it the right reasons will become the wrong reasons." I paused, sighing. "Ciel, I know you're a clever young man, but Hafsa has been around for a very long time, it is unlikely that you will outsmart him…"

* * *

Eventually I heard the key being spun in the lock and the bathroom door cracked slightly. I moved out of the way to let him through as the boy slipped out quietly, with a morose expression. He reached down, getting hold of my hand and pulling me up to my feet.

"Come," he said softly, "we'll think of something tomorrow, okay? It's been a long day, I want to call it a night." Still holding my hand, he led me into his bedroom and closed the door. I almost flinched when I heard him locking it.

"Ciel, what are you doing?"

The boy's gaze shot up at me and he seemed rather uncomfortable. "Well I thought… don't you want-"

"Certainly not with your mother around!" I jumped. Fuck, Hannah had just said she trusted me, how awkward was that? "What if she hears anything _funny_? It will be very 'interesting' explaining this to her!"

Ciel pursed his lips and made a farting sound. "Well, what do you know, since she 'came out' about being my mother, I thought it would only be fair for me to come out to her that I swing both ways. I didn't mention anything about us, of course, but if she hears something funny I take it she'll figure out which way I'm swinging right now"

"Wha-?"

"Oh come on! It's not like I'm gay, she can still dream of grandchildren or something. Isn't that what all the fuss is about anyway?" the investigator pointed, a stupid grin plastered on his face.

" _WHAT?!_ " I facepalmed. How the fuck could he do something like that? "Look, "I said, taking a deep breath," what transpired between you and your mother is none of my business, but this is hardly the point now and not a matter of 'swinging' either, for fuck's sake! Hannah trusts me to take care of you and I don't want to disappoint her"

"Mmmhmm, take care of me…" Ciel hummed and pushed me to sit on the bed, then straddled me. "See, I've been having this dream lately," he whispered, cupping the sides of my face," Well, it's not exactly a dream, but… I have been thinking about that night, when you came to save me, the night I realised what you are… I was frightened back then, but afterwards I kind of have been thinking about you in your true demon form, you were so beautiful and terrible, hovering over me like that when I was lying shackled and helpless on that stone slab… Do you know what I'm saying?"

"Of course," I said calmly, "you're saying you're a huge pervert and that you were actually turned on by something that _really_ shouldn't have had that effect"

Ciel pulled away a bit, glancing questioningly into my eyes. "Are you saying that you don't like your true form?"

 _What the fuck is there to like about it? It has some 'practical' advantages, of course, but it is monstrous, for fuck's sake!_ I couldn't believe he actually had a fascination with the way I looked as a demon. Maybe that explained why he was willing to become one with the spider demon (although who the hell knew what Faustus' true form looked like?).

"I want you to show me everything…"

"What?"

The boy titled his head to the side, leaning and brushing his mouth against mine. "I want to experience you that way," he murmured against my lips.

"Ciel, my true form is dangerous. I know I just fed but still… not to mention, everything gets bigger and sharper, I might hurt you"

The petite investigator's lips left my mouth and trailed along my jaw line, before moving lower to my throat. "Sebastian, if you don't let me know everything, how am I supposed to make a good decision?" he whispered, trying his small teeth on my skin.

 _Right, I'm sure this is the reason…_ "Have I ever told you that you're a manipulative little fuck?" I pushed him off me gently, then stood up, pulling my shirt over my head. "If you really want to study my true form, there it is." I closed my eyes and focused until I heard my bones crack awkwardly and I felt my wings springing from my shoulder blades, unfolding fully. My fingers elongated, nails turning into long, sharp claws. I gave him a wide, sharp toothed smile, hoping to put him off. "There!"

Ciel stared, wide-eyed but not frightened as I'd hoped. He drew closer, reaching out and running his fingers through the soft, black feathers of my left wing. It tickled a bit. His hand followed the contour of the peculiar appendage, all the way up to my bare shoulder, the tiny fingertips exploring curiously.

"You are so beautiful, Sebastian," he said, glancing into my eyes, while now both his hands ran smoothly down my torso, feeling at the taut muscles. "Do you think I could become like this too?" he wondered, chagrin obvious in his quiet voice. "That I could ever be worthy of your beauty?"

I blinked. Was he really serious about this? But he was suddenly self-conscious, his gaze dropping to the floor while his fingers tugged shyly at the waistband of my jeans. I gently brushed my knuckles against his pale cheek and further, down his throat, feeling the all too alluring pulse under the soft skin. "Ciel, you _are_ beautiful… Take your clothes off"

* * *

My claws wandered, barely grazing the flawless expanse of milky white skin, careful not to draw any drop of the precious blood beneath it. I leaned over the small form lying captive under my body and briefly pecked the tip of his nose before taking his mouth with mine. Ciel's fingers sought and tangled in the feathers of my wings, which were sprawled like a large curtain around us, pulling me closer. Of course, he had no idea that he was playing with fire – right now I wanted more, so much more than just to touch him, or to make love to him sweetly, gently, ever watchful of my own self restraint. But how could he know what it was like to be like me?

"What do you want, Ciel? Tell me what you want," I murmured, my mouth once more drawn towards his pale, fully exposed throat. I wanted him. And I wanted him _that way_.

The boy let out a small moan, tugging harder at my wings. "Take me, Sebastian. Everything, all of me is yours! Make me yours!"

 _Make him mine. Indeed._ I let my teeth graze over one of the boy's soft nipples, before I sucked and nipped at it slowly, making sensual moans escape Ciel's lips. I then advanced further down, leaving a trail of kisses from his chest all the way down to his navel, growing impatient as the small body arched and opened up under my touch.

"A-ahhhhhh… please... can't get enough of this!" my petite lover breathed as my tongue teased his now hard, throbbing member, his fingers clawing helplessly at the sheets. I licked around from top to base, then grazed my teeth over the tip before taking it into my mouth entirely. He moaned desperately, begging for release, but no, not yet.

I sat up abruptly, pulling him into my lap. His body felt so delicate, so fragile, I could feel the junctures of his bones, every bump of his spine, everything enveloped in deliciously sweet smelling flesh. No, this was too much, I couldn't be gentle anymore. With one powerful thrust I buried myself in the tight heat of his body and started to move, ignoring Ciel's yelp of pain. My claws dug into his shoulder blades mercilessly this time, breaking the skin and tearing on their way down his back.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!" the boy cried, gripping my shoulders desperately. "Yes! Yeah, l-like that!" he panted. I quickly pressed my mouth over his, suddenly realising that I couldn't let anyone hear him make those sounds. _Especially Hannah_. _Shit!_ The thought of Ciel's mother being around somewhat tempered my enthusiasm and, with a deep breath, I slowly reverted to my human form.

"Mmmnnahhh, what the fuck?! Don't!" Ciel whined in disappointment as my wings retracted and my fingers returned to normal.

"Shhhhh… let's focus on the more important things, shall we?" I suggested, gradually increasing the speed of my thrusts as growing pleasure began to build in my lower abdomen. And there it was again, as my orgasm drew near, the need, no, the _want_ for blood, getting more pungent by the second. It didn't seem to matter that I'd fed enough earlier, I simply wanted more, I wanted _him_.

"Ah, fuck, Ciel!" I growled, unconsciously pulling the boy closer as his peak finally hit him. His whole body clenched around me, sending me over the edge as well and then, without warning, I realised I couldn't help myself anymore. I quickly tilted his head to the side and sunk my fangs into his warm, deliciously soft neck. Ciel simply gasped at the sensation and I could almost taste a feeling very similar to the excitement for something long anticipated as his warm, wonderful life essence filled my mouth.

"W-what… what is it like, Sebastian?" the boy murmured, his nimble fingers now running through my ruffled strands of hair as I drank. "What do I taste like?"

His question made me snap out of the feeding frenzy which had taken hold of my entire being and I finally pulled away, licking my lips as I stared into his now half-lidded eyes. What did he taste like? How could I even begin to describe the flavor of his innocence, the sheer beauty of his soul?

"Ciel… I-I'm so sorry… I never thought… I never wanted to-" I mumbled apologetically eyeing the two already closed marks on his pale, fragile neck. They were going to turn into ugly bruises for sure.

"Please, tell me," my petite lover pleaded, his small hands cupping the sides of my face as his weakened, exhausted body slumped helplessly against me. "I want to know what it's like"

I ran the tips of my fingers down his back and encountered more blood, from where my claws had dug in so viciously only moments before. I couldn't but stare in fascination at the crimson coating them before hurrying to lick them clean. "It tastes like… sin. Like something you shouldn't as much as think of ever putting in your mouth. But then you do it, again and again and again, because you have no choice"

I gently turned the boy around and laid him on his belly onto the mattress so that I could take care of the wounds on his back as well. Once I had caressed it with my tongue the skin quickly resumed its velvety smoothness and Ciel let out a soft moan, already half asleep. As I settled down next to him under the covers, his small hand sought mine and he entwined our fingers.

"I love you, Sebastian…"


	23. Chapter 23

_I love you, Sebastian…_

I woke up abruptly, stirred from a bad dream I couldn't remember. Everything was dark and silent around me as I cradled my aching head in my hands and fought to swallow the painful, choking lump in my throat. Just what the hell had happened to me? Something was wrong, something… and then I realised it. The other side of the bed was empty. I knew it instinctively before actually seeing the now cold, creased sheets and the casually folded piece of paper, half stuffed under Ciel's pillow. My heart skipped a beat.

" _Sebastian, I had to do this…"_

I simply crumpled the note in my fist and tossed it onto the floor without reading the rest. Of course, he _had_ to do this to me! And to Hannah and to everyone else! Oh, I had no doubt that he couldn't help it! Scrubbing a hand over my face in annoyance and despair, I pulled my clothes on as fast as I could and darted out of the room, having no idea what the hell I was supposed to do next. But then I saw Hannah, standing in the middle of the dim lit corridor, her whole body rigid and an expression of frozen horror all over her beautiful face.

"He's gone, isn't he?" she murmured, in such a low voice that I was sure only my sharp hearing could perceive it. Her haunted, hollow eyes held no hope, only sought the confirmation of a misfortune which was beyond avoidance and beyond undoing. _This wouldn't have fucking happened if you hadn't let_ him _make the final decision!_ I wanted to shout in her face, but instantly knew that I was wrong. No, it was because he feared opposition to his decision. And being the ultimate pain in the ass that he was, Ciel would have most likely done it anyway.

"Hannah…"

"He took the book with him. He must have gone back to NUIT to confront Faustus," she said, breathing out every word as if she were in a trance as she reached out to grab my arm with a trembling hand. Her large, deep blue eyes looked up at me, suddenly pleading. "Sebastian, please…"

* * *

The church street was empty in those early hours before dawn. I had made use of my jumping so far, so that we would waste as little time as possible (after all there was no knowing when Ciel had left exactly) but we walked quietly for the last portion, so as to draw no unwanted attention upon us.

"Sebastian, you don't have to say anything but… I just know you care about my son. I know you like him," Hannah said out of the blue, as we reached the front of the massive wooden doors.

_You have no idea how much I like him, especially in this very moment!_ But I said nothing, avoiding her gaze, while my hand gripped the brass handle determinedly. But even so, the grimace instantly creeping on my face must have spoken volumes. Of course, the doors were locked and wouldn't even budge. I used to have the key to the church because they locked it at night, had I forgotten that? _What the hell, I need to pull myself together!_

The lavender haired young woman looked up at me with a meek, disarming smile. "I know that, although he's a wonderful boy, he does have a… well… _difficult_ side," she went on. "His father was just the same, that's why it didn't work between us. But I prayed so hard that Ciel would not inherit it…"

Clearly, she hadn't prayed hard enough… "It's alright, it doesn't matter," I muttered, nodding briefly before I kicked the double doors as hard as I could.

They slammed open, swinging loosely on their hinges, splinters flying everywhere, revealing the dark insides of the building. Oddly, there wasn't a single candle burning around the altar and the rows of pews were barely distinguishable. It was eerily quiet too, but that was only because the NUIT headquarters were too deep underground for any sound to come through. Damn! Now _that_ door was solid… the door, yes, but the walls not quite so. I sped up towards the entry and kicked the stone wall around the lock hard and repeatedly, until it eventually crumbled enough to release the door, making it swing open, revealing the narrow staircase going below. Keeping close behind me, Hannah gripped my arm worriedly as I squinted down the flight of stairs. But again, there was no one.

We descended carefully, making our steps as soundless as possible. Not that it was of much use, I imagined that Faustus must have heard us already since I'd broken the two doors on our way here. At last, we reached the offices area, where all the lights were on, as usual, except it was deserted. There was no one monitoring the screens or the surveillance cameras.

"Could it be that they moved, or just left or something? There's no one here…" I wondered out loud, throwing a glance around, but Hannah had already hurried ahead of me to one of the flickering screens.

"Oh my God!" she cried. "Sebastian, someone's put the habitations area on emergency lock off and shut down the ventilation system! I think Faustus locked everyone in there and left them to suffocate!" She frantically began hitting the keyboard but the door to the habitations area remained closed. "Damn! It's password protected! Sebastian, help me! We must get them out or they'll die!"

_Fuck!_ Faustus must have known that once I saw this I would do something about it, I would not let all those people die, so he must have done this to distract me. But why? Could it be that he was really afraid of me? That was a good thing, if he thought me a dangerous enough opponent to pull all these stunts. But there was no time to waste on pondering – I hurried towards the door to the habitations area and brought it down after quite some effort. Loud shouting instantly erupted from the other side, deafening me and before I realised what was going on Lizzy jumped straight in my arms. Then Mey-Rin, Finny, Bard, Dr. Tanaka and everyone else poured out of the narrow corridor, desperately gasping for air and creating an indescribable chaos.

"Oh, Sebastian! Sebastian, you came to rescue us! I knew all those things Father Faustus said about you were not true!" the blonde cried, gripping my neck even tighter as she sobbed. _So he had been telling them certain things about me_ _after all… but they didn't seem to do anything to help him capture me and Ciel, so perhaps whatever he said wasn't very effective?_

"Lizzy, it's alright, you're safe now," I tried to calm her. "Have you seen Ciel tonight? Do you know-"

"Sebastian, Father Faustus locked us inside and shut the ventilation shafts while we were asleep. What the fuck is going on?" Bard interrupted me harshly. "I may not know much about things, but it looks to me like he was trying to get us all killed!"

"Just tell us what the hell is going on!" Mey-Rin added, followed by Finny and once more everything became unintelligible.

"Hey! Hey!" I shouted, waving my hands to stop them. "Everyone, Hannah will explain everything to you in detail, okay? Just tell me where Ciel is if you know, please! It's very important!"

In that very moment the Undertaker pushed his way forward, his usual eerie grin in place. I resisted the urge to hit him square in the face just for the sake of wiping it off for once. "They're on the last level below, just follow those stairs," he indicated, "but I think you should hurry because-"

* * *

I didn't wait for him to finish before I darted in that direction, leaving all the fuss and cacophony of shouts and questions behind me as I quickly descended down the indicated stairs. It was pitch dark and the steps seemed to be ever narrowing, while a rancid smell of moist walls and something else I couldn't quite describe hit my nostrils. I was beginning to pick up a faint sound coming from below, something like a rhythmic chanting.

_Fuck, this isn't good!_ I had started off before the Undertaker could say it out loud but Faustus had undoubtedly captured Ciel. Whatever plan my investigator had must have gone to shit, just how predictable was that… the spider demon was no fool. I could only hope it wasn't too late to save him.

I slowed my step as I drew near the bottom of the stairs and saw a pale flicker of light – probably from torches, as the thick smoke indicated - coming from around the corner. I had a déjà vu all the sudden as I took in the dark stone walls of the large room ahead of me, bare of any furniture except for a table-shaped stone slab in the middle. And I didn't need to see what was on it to know, either.

"Oh, there he is, right on time!" Faustus stated, in his usual dry, completely emotionless voice. He had kept the priest clothes on, the nerve of this creature, I found myself thinking, although I couldn't care any less what the fuck he was wearing. "Honestly, how predictable was that, Ciel? Sebastian came to save you!"

At least Ciel was still alive. Good.

"But does Sebastian know I locked all the NUIT personnel in the habitations area and left them to suffocate in their sleep? I think not," the spider went on, putting down the Grimoire and stepping away from the table momentarily. "Therefore his dilemma arises – who shall he save? He got here on time, but if he goes back up to release everyone, you will die in the meantime, whereas if he attempts to save you, they will all die. Not to mention, at the end of the day he may not be able to save anyone… Oh, what to do?"

"I-It's true… Seb…astian… he did lock…" I heard the boy croak faintly, between gasps of pain.

I leaned casually on the doorframe and crossed my arms, observing the spider demon. Since he had no idea I had already released the rest of his staff and could not find out either, it was a great thing to play with, I decided.

"You are a fool, Claude Faustus or whatever your name is," I said calmly. "I don't care in the slightest who you locked and where and I did not come here to save anyone either. Well, I suppose you could argue that I did come to save someone, but it's neither Ciel Phantomhive nor your ridiculous staff. I only came here for my own sake"

If the spider was surprised at my words, he deftly concealed it. Completely oblivious to Ciel's muffled protests and struggling, he crossed his arms in turn, eyeing me with interest. "Please explain yourself, Mr. Michaelis. Please explain to me how you _did not_ come to save your precious little friend. What do you want then?"

_Not such a fool after all… well, no matter._ "I think you know what I want, _Father_ Faustus, you've always known it. I want to be left alone. But as I have come to understand, what I want apparently stands in the way of your personal ambitions, therefore you have sought to trap me, make use of me for as long as it was convenient and then you were planning to dispose of me at the opportune moment. Are you going to deny this fact? Because if you are not, the reason why I'm here now is quite evident – I want to kill you"

Faustus nodded – of course he wasn't going to deny the obvious. "I take it you're here to kill me before I can assume my true form once more then, aren't you? That's odd, I thought you had a different plan, which was for _the pawn_ Ciel Phantomhive to 'contain' me. How would that have worked for you, I wonder?"

"I would have been that much easier for me to kill you _in his body_ , after all he's just a helpless little boy who trusted me all along. Sadly, I see that one has failed," I observed. Something like a choked, painful sob came from the stone table, but I refused to look in that direction. I instinctively knew that if I looked at Ciel my mask would crumble and the spider would see right through my game. And I wasn't going to let him use Ciel against me.

"Are you saying that if I agreed to write your name off my black list you would just walk away, Sebastian Michaelis?" the so-called priest inquired. "You'd walk away from all this if given the opportunity to continue your peaceful, uneventful and totally boring solitary existence?"

_Well, that was rude._ I sighed, peeling myself off the doorframe and taking a step closer. "I clearly do not long for what you would call an 'exciting existence', spider, so yes, I would walk away from your disgusting presence without a glance back. Except, it is already too late for that – you sent your mercs and filthy breed spies after me, then you poisoned me with that tiny little dart and then you used magic enchantments to drive me mad. Besides, making such a suggestion doesn't just make you a coward, Hafsa? Are you planning to run and hide in a hole, like the itsy bitsy spider that you are?"

Faustus was completely motionless for a moment. Then, he slowly removed his gold rimmed spectacles and placed them carefully down on top of the open pages of the Grimoire. His long, slender fingers began to undo the buttons of his garment, one by one, without hurry. And then, in the very moment the black cloth was discarded and fell soundlessly onto the stone floor, his body began to contort in an oddly fashion. I could hear his bones crack as they seemed to reshape, but suddenly I was distracted by the hurried steps resounding from the stairs. The Undertaker, with Hannah in tow, were about to burst into the room and I turned abruptly to hold them back.

Right then, as I had my back turned on the room trying to stop the two, something massive jumped on me from behind, causing me to collapse and slam my head against the wall next to the doorframe. I let out a groan as the stone crumbled under my skull and I fought to turn around and stand.

"Sebastian, he's already half assumed his true form!" I heard Hannah cry. "And Ciel is dying, we must do something, now!"

We must certainly do something, I mentally agreed, finally managing to turn and being met with the sight of the gigantic spider hovering on top of me, a set of sharp, enormous, fanged jaws inching towards my face. I kicked with my legs as hard as I could, but the creature seemed unimpressed. Eventually, I managed to throw it off me, on its back, all of its eight legs thrashing wildly and I heard the Undertaker beginning to chant something. What the hell was he doing?

I hurried to move away from the beast, pulling off my jacket and letting my wings spring free. With a flutter of my large wings I lifted myself up in the air, seeking a way to attack the spider – which had now managed to get back on its feet – from above.

But there was no time - the creature climbed up on the wall at amazing speed and unexpectedly jumped, launching itself at me in mid-air. I was forcefully slammed into the opposite wall this time, the bones in my wings and back cracking with a sickening sound, while the spider tried to force its moving jaws towards my neck and face. Struggling like mad, I managed to free one arm from under its pinning form and extended my claws before plunging my sharp fingers into the multitude of yellow eyes staring at me with malice.

"Die, you fucking thing!" I yelled as the creature's legs tore from the wall, suddenly wrapping themselves around my body and squeezing, such that we both dropped down onto the stone floor and rolled on the tiles. A sharp pain shot through my forearm and I saw that the spider's jaws had bit and torn through my flesh. I screamed, continuing to dig into what I assumed to be its head, crushing the disgusting eyes and fighting to free my other arm as the spider's clawed legs racked the rest of my body. Black feathers scattered as they tore at my wings, but I continued to dig and squeeze, now with both hands, despite the now unbearable pain, until that sort of skull eventually cracked, splattering some horrid liquid which burned where it touched my neck and the side of my face. Yet it still wasn't dead – the legs continued to attack me, while the jaws were still clenched around my right arm. One claw grazed my forehead, making a deep gash and the running blood blinded me. Somewhere in the back of the room I could still hear the Undertaker chanting, in fact his voice was rising now, causing the creature to attack more furiously, seeking to tear me to shreds before it was all over. And then, suddenly, its body went still, brusquely reduced to nothing more than a death frozen carcass.

I realised that I had passed out for a short while when I heard steps drawing closer and then the Undertaker wrestled to free me and shove the spider's remains aside. The room spun as I eventually stood up on wobbly legs, wanting nothing more than to drop back onto the floor and lay there motionless. The gashes on my legs and sides were already beginning to heal, although they stung like hell. I couldn't see the extent of damage on my wings, but I could still see clearly the bare bone of my arm where the beast had chewed on it. The flesh around the wound had blackened. _Venom._ A wave of nausea instantly washed over me and I bent over, throwing up my dinner.

* * *

Propping myself onto the stone table with my good arm I looked down at Ciel's shackled and bloody form through blurry eyes. There was a horrible gash on left side of his stomach, probably made with a knife, and rivulets of blood had gathered into some sort of collecting channel I had failed to notice before. Now Hannah was pressing on the wound, trying to minimize the bleeding, but I could tell he didn't have much longer.

"What the hell are you doing?" I croaked. "Why is he still tied to the table? He needs a fucking doctor!"

"The only reason that thing is now dead," the Undertaker drawled, pointing at the enormous spider carcass lying contorted near the entrance, "is that we proceeded with the ritual, just as Ciel wanted. He has taken Hafsa into his body"

"What…?" I breathed, glancing back at Ciel, who was barely drawing gasped, ragged breaths now. He was covered in sweat and his eye was half-lidded and unfocused.

"Of course, there is no guarantee he will survive this 'union', he might very well succumb before the process is completed. Then they would both die"

My head hurt. I just wanted to drop dead and know no more of this, it was too much, even for me. Suddenly, a bloodcurdling scream resounded and the boy's whole body arched upwards, despite the restraints, before collapsing back on the table and beginning to thrash wildly.

"Noooooooo! Nooo, stop! Make it stop!" Ciel screamed, struggling as Hannah desperately tried to hold him down and keep him from moving too much. "Please, make it stop!" he cried, tears mingling with blood and dirt on his pale face. His hand reached to grab mine, but the shackle held his small wrist in place. I reached in turn and closed my fingers around his clammy ones, squeezing my eyes shut.

When I came back to my senses I realised I had passed out again, because I was crouched oddly on my knees and my forehead rested against the edge of the stone table. And now the small hand I was still holding tightly had gone limp.

"W-what…?" I muttered groggily, lifting my head to see what was going on. The Undertaker was working to undo the petite investigator's shackles, while Hannah had abandoned pressing his wound. Now she simply held him, cradling his upper torso to her chest and caressing his ruffled hair. She wasn't making any sounds, but I saw her tears, sliding down Ciel's pale face and further down his neck.

"I know this is sad, it's always sad when a young life is wasted like that," the weird monk said, removing my hand from Ciel's and gently pushing me away from the table so he could undo the last restraint. "But at least Hafsa is gone from this world." Ignoring Hannah, he leaned and pulled up the boy's t-shirt, revealing the wound on his stomach. "And I'll have some work patching this up for the funeral…" he muttered to himself.

_You fucking bastard!_ I screamed inside my head, because no words came out from my parted, dry lips as I stared at the bloody gash, unable to tear my eyes from it, even if I knew I was probably going to pass out again. And I frowned, confused and dumbstruck, because right before my eyes the wound began - slowly but surely - to close until soon there was no mark left of it. _What?_ Then I saw the nasty bruises and scrapes made by the shackles on Ciel's delicate wrist fading and eventually disappearing as well.

"Hannah! Get away from him!" I shouted suddenly, with all my strength.

"No! Please don't take him away from me, please!" she cried, "He's my son, please!"

"Hannah, get away! Something's happening!" I insisted and tried to crawl towards her. I accidentally propped myself on my injured arm and let out a scream.

But the Undertaker moved quickly and tore her away from the small body. "Hannah, we must be careful," he said. "We don't know if Hafsa hasn't managed to take over him by any chance. We have to make sure it's Ciel first…"

For a few agonizing moments nothing happened, then the boy's pale lips parted ever so slightly and he took a deep, hissed breath. His ribcage rose and fell several times as he inhaled and exhaled loudly, before he sat up suddenly, his eye still closed and his head lolling forward. His hand rose slowly and peeled off the eyepatch, uncovering the lid underneath, no longer marred by any scar. And then his eyes opened, revealing irises in the color of liquid gold, around cat-like pupils. His gaze fell on me and I gulped, fleetingly wondering whether he was going to jump me and finish the job.

"Sebastian? What the fuck happened to you?" he asked with a scowl.

_Oh… it's him alright_

* * *

_**Present day** _

"Honestly Sebastian, just how much time are you going to waste on that so-called book of yours? One would think demons have better things to do. And besides, it's not like anyone wants to read your crap anyway," the voice of my beloved promptly pesters me.

"It's the _story of my life_!" I grumble humorlessly, leaning back in my chair and letting my fingers slide off the laptop keyboard."And besides, it's mostly stuff about you, so it's bound to be successful. Or at least… thoroughly amusing?"

"WHAT?! SEBASTIAN!"

I know. I am evil.

**THE END**


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